SBC, Verizon Betting Speed Kills in DSL Race

Striking Back

"The Bells have to fight back, they have no choice," says the New York money manager. "This will be a negative for the cable companies, but that doesn't really matter going into next week's cable earnings." The threat of a broadband price war will seem minor, at least for the near term, if cable companies report the expected strong financial results beginning next week, says the would-be cable short.

Verizon declined to comment on the terms it struck with Microsoft to offer the new DSL plan.

But according to a research report Friday from J.P. Morgan Chase cable analyst Jason Bazinet, Verizon is not only pushing a price edge, it plans to compete on speed also. The new offering boasts speeds of 1.5 megabit-per-second, roughly equal to that of cable.

Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision (CVC Quote) is the most vulnerable of all the cable companies as Verizon rolls out its pricing offer, says Bazinet, since the two companies share the same territory.