Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery says CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Frontier Communications "need to increase capital spending to be more competitive" with cable operators in their regions, specifically Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR).
Flannery noted that Comcast and Charter are increasing their network footprints via acquisition and organic builds, while upping broadband speeds in multiple markets.
While CenturyLink and Frontier are increasing broadband speeds, the telcos continue to trail the cable operators which can more rapidly increase speeds, including 1 Gbps, by implementing DOCSIS 3.1 gear on their existing HFC network, Flannery said.
FierceTelecom has a full summary of Flannery's analysis here.