Cincinnati Bell 2014 Annual Report Download - page 7

Table of Contents
Form 10-K Part I
Cincinnati Bell Inc.
The key products and services provided by the Wireline segment include the following:
Data Services
The Company's data service products include high-speed internet access, data transport, and interconnection services. Consumer demand for increased
internet speeds is accelerating and more customers are opting for higher bandwidth solutions such as Fioptics. To address this demand, we able to provide
internet speeds of 10 megabits or more to nearly 490,000 addresses, or 60% of our operating territory with the coverage expected to increase to
approximately 80% by the end of 2016.
As business customers migrate from legacy products and network technology, our metro-ethernet product becomes the access method of choice, due to its
ability to support multiple applications on a single physical connection. The Company continues to build out fiber to MTU's in greater Cincinnati to meet
growing demand for these services. We are also expanding our metro-ethernet platform to deliver services across a wider geography to target business
customers beyond our ILEC footprint. The Company’s regional network connects the greater Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton areas in Ohio, as well as
Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; and Louisville, Kentucky.
Voice - Local Service
Voice local service revenue includes local service, digital trunking, switched access, information services, and other value-added services such as caller
identification, voicemail, call waiting, and call return. The Company's voice access lines continue to decrease as our customers have increasingly employed
wireless technologies in lieu of wireline voice services ("wireless substitution"), migrated to competitors, or were disconnected due to credit problems. The
Wireline segment has been able to increasingly offset the effect of access line loss on revenue by:
• bundling two or more of the Company's other services at a lower price than if they were purchased individually; and
• increasing the sale of VoIP services and other fiber-based products to business customers (reported under the caption Long Distance and VoIP).
Long Distance and VoIP
The Company's investment in its VoIP network has created a platform capable of supporting a variety of customers ranging from small shops to large
enterprise customers. Our VoIP products provide our customers access to widely disbursed communication platforms and access to our cloud based services
and hosted unified communications product.
Residential and business customers electing traditional long-distance lines can choose from a variety of long distance plans, which include unlimited long
distance for a flat fee, purchase of minutes at a per-minute-of-use rate, or a fixed number of minutes for a flat fee. The Company's long distance lines have
continued to decline over the past several years as a result of wireless substitution and the migration to VoIP technology.
Entertainment
In 2009, the Company launched Fioptics and focused our fiber network expenditures on densely populated areas, such as apartments and condominiums. At
the end of 2009, Fioptics was available to only 5% of Greater Cincinnati and had 11,100 entertainment subscribers. Today, Fioptics is available to
approximately 41% of Greater Cincinnati and as of December 31, 2014, we have 91,400 entertainment subscribers. Our Fioptics customers enjoy access to
over 400 entertainment channels, including digital music, local, movie, and sports programing, as well as Indian and Spanish-language packages, over 120
high-definition channels, parental controls, HD DVR and video On-Demand.
In addition, we offer features that deliver high customer satisfaction, including Fioptics TV Everywhere ™ and a Fioptics live TV streaming application.
Other Revenues
Other revenue consists of wiring projects for business customers, Fioptics advertising revenue, and commissions received as authorized sales agents for
DirecTV® and Verizon Wireless. In addition, CBT’s subsidiary, Cincinnati Bell Telecommunications Services LLC, generates revenue operating the
National Payphone Clearinghouse ("NPC") in an agency capacity.
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