Speed Focus Could Harm Telecom Industry, Plume CCO Says at Fiber Connect 2021

NASHVILLE, July 28, 2021—Tyson Marian, chief commercial officer of smart home services provider Plume, said at the Fiber Connect 2021 Tuesday that the industry is misguided in focusing so much on speed.

“We are constantly marketing on speed,” Marian said on the second day of the conference hosted by the Fiber Broadband Association. “I think it is going to become a threat to the industry” because companies won’t be differentiating themselves beyond speed.

He said that 95 percent of Plume’s customers operate under 350 Mbps and are satisfied with their service. In a statement that echoed many of those made by wireless service defenders, “Gigabit speeds are a marketing thing.”

If providers get so wrapped up in speed, they may not pay enough attention to other aspects of their model, such as customer service, that may differentiate them from the competition, Marian argued.

Standards of service

Panelists in the conference’s segment on challenges and opportunities also wrangled over standards of service and whether hard rules should be established.

Matt Collins of communications service provider Calix said the industry needs to embrace standard setting by regulators, which he argued would be an important part of promoting healthy competition in the economy.

For example, the federal standard for minimum speeds is 25 Megabits per second download and 3 Mbps upload.

But Marian said he is “weary of standards.” He argued that allowing providers to have the flexibility to offer precise services tailored to clients was crucial to an “open ecosystem,” for example allowing customers to purchase lower levels of service instead of a larger speed package they don’t need because the lower package has been phased out.

“Such a small group of people should not control the outcomes of an entire industry.”