Wipro Launches Prepaid Broadband Solution For US Cable Market

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT), today announced the availability of ‘Wipro Accelerate,’ an innovative prepaid broadband solution that enables cable system operators to reduce or eliminate cost and credit obstacles, and expand broadband services to unserved or underserved markets in the United States.

An end-to-end service, Wipro Accelerate is one of the first solutions in the industry, which will enable operators to deploy prepaid packages without incurring heavy capital and operational expenses towards new billing or product-support platform development, and facilitate a positive return on investment for cable operators, even at low price points.

Wipro Accelerate seamlessly allows the cost-effective launch of prepaid packages that can increase market penetration and address regulatory issues, including the Federal Communications Commission’s “Connect to Compete” program. Using the cloud based hosted solution, operators can offer products that are specifically designed to meet the needs of prepaid subscribers, and also avoid cannibalizing existing broadband deployment.

“The new challenge for the cable industry has been to drive penetration to the 30% of households that are yet to adopt broadband,” said Stephen Snyder, Global Head, Business Innovation for Wipro’s Global Media and Telecommunications Strategic Business Unit. “Wipro Accelerate uses industry-leading expertise, field-proven solutions along with a competitive pricing model to enable operators to expand the addressable market.”

“Consumer studies have indicated that a third of non-adopters would subscribe to broadband if the cost was $20 per month,” said Alan Breznick, an analyst covering the cable industry for Heavy Reading. “By launching prepaid broadband, operators could reduce their risk – including the nagging costs of disconnects and bad debt – and boost monetization of their networks, while at the same time fulfilling government mandates for greater broadband penetration.”

“At a time when broadband is seeing migration to usage-based models, prepaid packages offer the industry new opportunities to study customer behavior and attitudes, and create packages that are aligned to specific needs,” said Snyder. “In addition to opening up new market segments, we believe Wipro Accelerate can provide a unique platform for experimentation regarding broadband pricing and packaging, as well as a vehicle for educating subscribers regarding the cost-per-Megabyte of broadband service.”

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