Why Xfinity Mobile’s retail rollout is starting in Philly

Comcast’s play for the mobile space, Xfinity Mobile, is now officially live.

Today, the comms giant announced the retail rollout of its wireless service in 17 stores across the Philly area. The service lets users combine Verizon’s carrier network and Comcast’s 17 million Wi-Fi hotspots to “provide consumers with a better wireless experience, for less money, on today’s most popular devices,” according to a company press release.

“We’re honored to be the first to unveil Xfinity Mobile at Xfinity Stores in our hometown and across our region,” Jim Samaha, senior VP of Comcast’s “Freedom Region” (which encompasses Philly and its suburbs, New Jersey and Northern Delaware), said in a statement.

“We’re excited to show consumers how Xfinity Mobile integrates with our other Xfinity products,” Samaha said.

The push for the mobile space is part of a Comcast trend of late to diversify beyond cable TV in the face of the cord-cutting phenomena which, the company admits, is happening.

“Television used to be free and now most Americans are paying a lot of money for it” Roberts said last week in a Bloomberg TV interview. “We’re trying to pivot the whole company to have a rapid deployment of new products that delight and surprise you all the time.”

Available to all Xfinity Internet customers, the service offers two data options: unlimited (starting at $45) and “by the gig” ($12 per GB) including the unlimited talk and text plan that has quickly become the standard option for mobile operators as competition in the space heats up.

It’ll be interesting to watch Comcast not play the incumbent for once, seemingly being more inventive in wooing customers to a new service.