With his division still evolving following its purchase of Austin, Texas-based IoT company Icontrol Networks, Xfinity Home chief Daniel Herscovici said Comcast’s home automation wholesale business could soon experience returns in regions beyond North America.
Comcast is already licensing home automation tech, along with its X1 video platform, to North American operators including Cox Communications and Canada’s Rogers Communications. But shortly before Comcast announced its purchase of Icontrol last year, the tech vendor entered a partnership with Australian telecom Telstra.
It had previously signed deals to make its home automation gear available to 1.2 million Japanese cable customers through Asahikawa Cable Television, Bay Communications, Fureal Channel Inc., Hiroshima Cable Television Corp. and Okinawa Cable Network Inc.
“There’s a global opportunity on the wholesale side that will come to reality over the next two or three years,” Herscovici told FierceCable. "Certainly, there’s a lot of opportunities for home automation outside of the Comcast footprint, and we’re going to use wholesale to take advantage of that.”
Xfinity Home revealed over the spring that it had reached the 1 million customer milestone, having launched in 2012.
Herscovici spoke to FierceCable while making some media rounds tied to the selection of Xfinity Home by international analyst firm Frost & Sullivan as “Company of the Year.”
"While many home automation and security products, such as lighting controls, smart thermostats and video surveillance cameras are being positioned as DIY solutions, their installation and integration with other technologies can be challenging,” said Frost & Sullivan senior analyst Imran Khan, announcing the selection. "Comcast addressed this issue by delivering a unified platform that enables customers to easily manage their home security and smart home devices from a single, easy-to-use website or app."