Competition is a good thing for consumers. Right after AT&T announced plans to roll out its television service called U-Verse in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Comcast announces that it will spend $80 million to finish upgrading its cable television and high-speed Internet network in the Bay Area.

According to the SF Chronicle, Comcast "will lay 2,200 miles of fiber-optic cable in Los Gatos, Milpitas, Saratoga, Santa Rosa, Hayward, San Leandro, Sunnyvale and Half Moon Bay." Comcast said its upgrade has nothing to do with AT&T's plans. The improvements will allow the 250,000 homes in those cities to access video-on-demand and Internet telephone services.

I should note that phone competition in the Bay Area began in April when Comcast began selling its Internet telephone service. So, just as AT&T is encroaching on Comcast's cable television market, Comcast has been making inroads in AT&T's telephone market.