By Tony E. Werner, Pete M. Gatseos, Ph.D., TCI Communications, Inc.
Within a consumer expectations framework, this paper investigates the value equation of cost versus network availability.
Clearly there are certain low levels of network availability that will be deemed unacceptable by customers. Equally as clear is that you can continue to increase network availability at a greater cost. Of course, this embedded capital cost in turn translates into higher service costs, ultimately becoming a price hurdle to the customer. Figure 1 provides a graphical view of this equation.
The network provider's objective is to satisfy customer expectations for a given service while providing a reasonable network cost -in other words, a reasonable investment that can be reasonably recovered through the price of the service or product. This paper takes a holistic view of key cost elements involved in network availability and reliability vis-a-vis customer expectations as they relate to cable TV services.