Comcast Cable’s move to pay subscribers more for high-speed Internet has caught the cable company by surprise.
The cable giant has made the announcement in a news release.
Comcast plans to make up the difference by charging customers a higher rate for Internet over the phone.
Comcast says it will charge customers $6.99 per megabit per second (Mbps) in the U.S. and $13.99 a megabit over the weekend for speeds of more than 500 Mbps.
The $6/Mbps increase is part of the company’s plan to increase its video and voice revenue to $10 billion by 2019.
Comcast has also announced that it is going to sell a new product called a Steel Cable, which is a wireless-based cable that can connect directly to an Apple TV.
The Steel Cable is available to customers in the United States and Canada and will be available through select Comcast retail stores starting today.
The company is also going to expand its digital television service to include over-the-top streaming services such as Netflix.
Comcast’s move comes at a time when cable companies have been making big investments in broadband.
Comcast invested $100 million in a $25 billion fiber optic network in 2015.
The investment comes as many major cable companies including Comcast and Charter are cutting costs.