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US MSOs to face fierce competition from telcos despite growth: Study
MUMBAI: The US cable TV Multiple System Operators (MSOs) may generate over $7 billion in revenues in 2012 providing telecommunications services to businesses.
But they will be chasing a declining business in telecom services segment and face fierce competition from entrenched telco providers with deep pockets ready to staunchly defend their existing base.
This was the finding of a new market research study from The Insight Research Corporation.
Cable operators will gain some market share, but they will remain small players in a big industry with low margins and little cash flow, the study noted.
Insight Research‘s market analysis study, “Cable TV Enterprise Services, 2012-2017” provides a sobering view for cable providers, who have been touting the business services market as a profitable respite from their mature residential video business.
Business services is the second largest segment in the US telecommunications landscape next to wireless services. While cable operators have had some recent success in growing their single-digit share of this market, they will face major obstacles trying to take significant share in this modest growth segment.
“While their legacy in providing services to residential segments may give them confidence they can grow profitably in this adjacent segment, the cable operator‘s challenges will be steep and growth is dependent upon taking market share from entrenched players” says Fran Caulfield, Research Director at Insight Research.
“Our study concludes that despite these obstacles, cable operators will forge ahead and the entrenched telco providers will likely respond with investments, price, and improved performance to combat this threat. It should be an interesting few years,” Caulfield concluded.
“Cable TV Enterprise Services, 2012-2017” segments revenue estimates for telco and cable operators providing basic voice, data, and video services offered to the small, medium and large enterprise business segments. Detailed revenue estimates are provided for a range of business services, including ethernet, private lines, voice services, web hosting, optical transport, and video.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
