RBOCs Entering the $50 Billion Multichannel Video Market Follow Different Product Development Strategies to Compete With MSOs -- According to Yankee Group, "Despite public statements to the contrary, we believe MSOs aren�t taking the threat of new competition lightly � and they shouldn�t: We estimate cable will lose subscribers at the rate of 0.5-1 percent per year. This is before the entry of new competition with a two-way network, with more bandwidth and potentially more advanced applications than the MSOs can provide. In the last 4 years, RBOCs have steadily lost residential wireline voice subscribers. Yankee estimates that about 4 percent of US households have dropped their wireline phones. In addition, a growing number of voice minutes are shifting to wireless. We expect traditional wireline voice revenue to decline by approximately 24 percent in the next 4 years. Alternative voice providers, including MSOs, will be important drivers of this revenue erosion. We anticipate that cable�s VoIP product will gain 12 million homes by year-end 2008. The RBOCs have their backs up against a wall and cannot postpone new product development."
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...