Moffett: Cable will fast-follow AT&T into usage-based pricing

Cable MSOs will use AT&T's (NYSE: T) usage-based broadband pricing model as "air cover" to initiate their own plans in the near future, Sanford Bernstein Senior Analyst Craig Moffett said in a research note.

Moffett predicted that cable operators will introduce pricing plans that include caps for low end packages and overage surcharges with first movers Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) while Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is "the least likely to move in the short term."

AT&T's move, he said, is "good news for all the terrestrial broadband operators."

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