Wireless Atop the Quad-Play Heap for AT&T?

The Wall Street Journal reports on AT&T’s announced management restructuring today that puts wireless division chief Ralph de la Vega in charge of a broader consumer markets division. This division will encompass television (U-verse), telephone, wireless and broadband services.

This seems in part like a move toward a more unified bundle of products, and the eventual goal of “continuity of services.” This basically means content and advertising that is served across devices (see TKG quad-play report). De la Vega’s position at the top of the heap could make wireless a key differentiator in this bundle.

Indeed, the primary competition is cable, which has an edge in broadband speeds (cable vs. DSL), but doesn’t have the direct wireless assets to build a more holistic product bundle. Telcos also have an underlying architecture advantage when it comes to the IP-based delivery of television (IPTV), and all that will allow. Those advantages will take a while longer to reach the market though.

Read more of de la Vega’s views on bundled services, IPTV and AT&T’s overall product direction in this past post.

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Update: New study from CFI shows consumers prefer telco-delivered triple-play packages over cable by a margin of almost 2 to 1.