CABLE UNWIRED

It took a while, but the cable operators are finally biting. In the past few months, a handful of multiple systems operators have announced baby steps into the wireless arena. While they've stopped short of launching as full-fledged mobile virtual network operators, they've definitely indicated they aren't going to let the RBOCs use wireless as leverage in the battle to become the single-stop communications, entertainment and data providers.

Cablevision was the latest to sign a deal with Sprint, the carrier emerging as the de facto wireless partner for the cable industry. The partnership is certainly not as ambitious as Time Warner's trial in Kansas City, Mo., and is more a marketing/promotion deal than an attempt to merge wireless and wireline services. Cablevision is offering Sprint wireless service to its cable broadband customers in its Optimum Online portal. The deal effectively amounts to little more than a sales channel for Sprint's wireless service. Still, it represents the first step to making wireless a part of Cablevision's portfolio.

Time Warner's project puts the Sprint wireless service on the monthly cable bill and integrates customer service and provisioning under a single contact number. Here again, it's a far a cry from the tightly knit services we've being hearing about for the last year. There's no single number for wireless and wired lines. There are no cross-platform entertainment or data offerings. There's no nifty phone-as-remote control feature, allowing customers to order their personal video recorders to record “Scrubs” while they have a drink with co-workers.

But cable companies have always acted slowly and deliberately when it comes to new services. And really, there's not that much pressure from the RBOCs that would force them to act. While the incumbent telcos have stopgap deals with the digital broadcast satellite providers, they are still years away from providing ubiquitous terrestrial video services. And while many of them do own a good chunk of their own wireless carriers, none of the RBOCs have done much to integrate wireless with their overall bundles, apart from churning out a unified bill and offering up bundling discounts.

The cable operators have plenty of time to wait, but when they do decide to get serious about wireless, they'll have some advantages. Their all-VoIP telephony networks will allow them to closely meld consumers' home and mobile services, and their vast stores of entertainment content will come in handy for promoting budding wireless data services. The cable companies appear willing to wait, and Sprint appears to be willing to wait with them.