Consumer Satisfaction and the Communications Bundle: Perception Is Not Always Reality

The consumer services bundle has become a powerful quiver of services for communications providers. Its effect has sent shockwaves through the industry, furthering the decline of ILEC wireline telephony, contributing to the significant growth of cable MSOs and revolutionizing how these services are sold to consumers. Cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner were some of the first to test and prove the theory of bundling services by focusing on discounting multiple service subscriptions. Cable MSOs’ success has taught other communications service providers such as Verizon and AT&T a hard lesson in subscriber retention and the value of bundled services, forcing them to follow suit.