Cox takes on telcos with wireless service

In all, the company has invested $550 million on licenses to buy airwaves, develop its infrastructure and staff its new wireless unit, said Patt Esser, CEO of Cox. Cox’s spectrum licenses today could reach about 23 million people in 15 states, including its major markets Atlanta, New Orleans, Pensacola, Fla., San Diego and Virginia. In preparation for the launch, Cox has joined CTIA, the international wireless association, and the Rural Cellular Association all within the past year. Cox did not release many details of the launch, including what handsets would be available, the markets it is launching in first or the business model.

Esser, however, did say the cableco would manage all aspects of the wireless service, from product development, marketing and sales to back-office operations, customer support and billing. Esser also indicated Cox planned to more fully integrate its cable programming content and broadband services with the wireless network. With Cox’s wireless service, customers will be able to use their wireless handsets to remotely access televisions, program digital video recorders and access content saved on computers, including a network address book that automatically synchs with PCs.

“From the wireline perspective, it gives them a good story because Verizon and AT&T both have wireless assets and can produce a quad play,” Ho said. “So the question is: What is the value that everyone is going to bring to the table to stimulate the consumers to say, ‘I want it all?’”

Cox is now the first cableco to clearly articulate its wireless plans in detail, but many of the other large cable operators have given some big hints. Bright House, Comcast and TWC plan to invest heavily in the proposed Clearwire venture, which goes before the FCC Nov. 5 for a vote. Comcast is leading the funding with $1 billion in capital, with Time Warner chipping in $550 million and Bright House another $100 million. None of the companies have stated how their investments will be specifically reflected in their business models, but Clearwire’s nationwide WiMAX network would give the companies access to a high-capacity wireless broadband service, which could compliment their wired broadband services. In addition, all three of those operators have access to SpectrumCo AWS licenses in their territories, allowing them to compliment any data-centric WiMAX offering with 3G services if they also choose to launch their own voice networks.