Cox launches wireless service

Cable television giant Cox Communications Inc. has finally made the jump into the wireless telephone business announcing today the launch of the first three markets where customers can sign up for its wireless service offering. Those initial markets are Hampton Roads, Va.; Omaha, Neb.; and Orange County, Calif.
Cox, which initially announced its wireless plans in 2008, said its wireless service has launched to a test group of residential customers for the final weeks of 2009 and will expand across the initial markets beginning next year. The company said it plans to expand the offering to business customers in the future and will also introduce a “new retail experience” in its initial markets. Cox added that it expects to grow its workforce in these markets by about 20% throughout its retail locations.
“More than 40% of our residential customers trust us to be their telephone service provider and two-thirds of our subscribers take all three of our existing services. Our customers have asked us to include wireless services as part of their bundle and we’ve listened,” said Pat Esser, president of Cox Communications. “We’re excited to let consumers know that they will soon have a better choice for wireless service. We’ve carefully considered the unmet needs of wireless customers and we’ll be delivering a service that is uniquely Cox to address those needs.”
Esser had mentioned at a conference in Aspen, Colo., in 2008 that the company could capture up to 20% of market share in the mobile space with its wireless offering.
Cox tapped Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. to build out its CDMA-based network using spectrum the cable company acquired during the Federal Communications Commission’s AWS and 700 MHz auctions. Cox also has an agreement with Sprint Nextel Corp. to provide roaming coverage to its customers. The cable company has also said it plans to update its network to LTE technology in the coming years.
A number of Cox’s fellow cable companies have also entered the mobile space through a mobile virtual network operator agreement with Clearwire Corp. and Sprint Nextel. Many of those cable companies, including Cox, were initially part of the doomed Pivot partnership with Sprint Nextel to offer wireless services.