Cox Communications Inc. said today that it will build its own 3G cellular network, test so-called 4G technology Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and strike a new deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S ) to start offering mobile services next year.
While other U.S. multiple system operators (MSOs) -- Bright House Networks , Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC ) -- have placed wireless bets on mobile WiMax with a combined investment of $1.7 billion in the proposed joint venture between Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR ) and Sprint's XOHM assets, Cox has come back with its own plans to build a 3G CDMA 2000 network and trial LTE. (See Cable Plays Clearwire Card and Sprint, Clearwire Create $14.5B WiMax Giant .)
Cox has spent roughly $550 million to acquire wireless licenses in the U.S., and today's news reveals what the MSO plans to do with some of it. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 's 700 MHz auction earlier this year, Cox paid just more than $304 million for 14 Block A and eight Block B licenses. And as part of the SpectrumCo cable consortium, Cox spent $248.3 million to win Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) licenses. (See Cox Preps 700 MHz Spectrum Bid , Cox Waxes Wireless , The Great Cable Spectrum Speculation , and SpectrumCo Gets Licenses .)
To get services off the ground quickly next year, Cox says it will launch services using Sprint's network. At the same time, the operator will construct its own 3G network using its AWS spectrum with equipment reportedly from Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
Cox has a history with Sprint. Cox and other MSOs dissolved this year a voice reseller joint venture with Sprint, called Pivot. Cox's new arrangement with Sprint appears to be more to the MSO's liking. (See MSOs Pivoting Away From Sprint JV .)
"Wireless service will be a key driver to Cox's future growth," said Pat Esser, president of Cox Communications in a statement. "We've already invested more than $500 million to acquire wireless spectrum and to develop the infrastructure and human resources needed to architect our own advanced wireless service."
Cox could not be reached for comment as this article was published.
— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Unstrung
User Ranking
Tuesday October 28, 2008 11:45:53 AM
Good point. I think WiMax has something to do with Cox's motivation, just as it does for Verizon's push for LTE.
User Ranking
Tuesday October 28, 2008 10:28:16 AM
User Ranking
Tuesday October 28, 2008 9:31:35 AM
Do you think we would be seeing these moves in the absence of WiMax and its financial backers?
User Ranking
Tuesday October 28, 2008 5:58:03 AM
Definitely good news for CDMA mobile infrastructure folks. Interesting that Cox has chosen CDMA2000 for 3G with a view to roll out LTE one day, following Verizon's lead there.
User Ranking
Monday October 27, 2008 8:59:44 AM
That's a big bold move for these guys and certainly a lone bright spot for the mobile infra crew.
LIGHT READING MARKET PLACE
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Podcasts SPONSORED CONTENT
Companies
Alcatel-Lucent (5872), AT&T (1948), BellSouth (848), BT (1287), Cablevision (615), Cisco (5297), Comcast (1910), Cox Communications (858), Deutsche Telekom (807), eBay (Skype) (345), Ericsson (1617), France Telecom (964), Google (489), Huawei (1045), Intel (1127), Juniper (2022), Microsoft (1115), Motorola (1486), Nokia Siemens Networks (2645), Nortel (3956), NTT (173), Siemens (1359), Sprint (1059), Telefonica (439), Time Warner Cable (969), Verizon (2587), Vodafone (510), Yahoo (339)
Broadband
Access equipment (2169), Access technologies (2378), Broadband loop carriers / multiservice access nodes (388), Cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) (1104), Cable TV chips (286), DSL (2425), DSL chips (227), DSLAMs (703), Free-space optics (35), FTTx (3265), Gaming consoles (58), Gaming servers (22), Media adapters (23), Municipal networks (106), PON (1364), PON chips (217), Satellite (497), WiMax (880), Wireless LAN (354)
Cable Digital
Cable Modems (681), Cable/MSO equipment (2802), CableLabs (470), Compression (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4) (279), Docsis (1046), Embedded multimedia terminal adapters (E-MTAs) (213), Head-ends (233), PacketCable (129), QAM (307)
Chips, Components & Subsystems
ASICs & FPGAs (101), ATCA (480), ATM chips (13), Comm chips (2360), Dispersion compensators (149), Lasers (920), Modulators (163), Mux/demuxes (299), Network processors (933), Optical amplifiers (349), Optical channel monitors (92), Optical components (2824), Speciality fiber (94), Switches & OADMs (397), Transceivers (1247), Transmission fiber (419), Variable optical attenuators (139)
Ethernet
10-Gbit/s Ethernet switches (1454), Access devices (272), ATM switches (333), Circuit emulation (16), Converged access (103), Ethernet chips (573), Ethernet equipment (2212), Ethernet over copper (231), Ethernet PONs (160), Ethernet services (1909), Ethernet technologies (568), Multipoint (131), Multiservice edge equipment (143), Multiservice provisioning platforms (622), Multiservice switches (389), PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) (256), Point-to-point (139), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132)
IP & Convergence
B-RASs (229), Cell/WLAN (77), Compression equipment (13), Core routers (1294), DNS (56), Edge routers (1686), ENUM (53), Fixed/Mobile Convergence (485), GMPLS (76), IMS (1088), IMS Control Layer (27), IMS Service Layer (27), IP equipment (1224), IP software (381), IP technologies (1482), IPv6 (99), Layer 3 VPNs (194), MPLS (687), MPLS (1774), Multicast (36), P2P (258), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132), QOS (350), SIP (396), Traffic managers (808), Wireline/Wireless (59)
Mobile/Wireless
3G Evolution (175), Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Carrier WiFi (226), CDMA (3G) (367), Core Network (173), EV-DO (126), Femtocells (30), Fixed Wireless (Microwave, etc.) (71), Fourth Generation (4G) Wireless (70), GSM/EDGE (430), HSDPA/HSUPA (321), IMS Core (47), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (188), Mobile Advertising (24), Mobile Music (31), Mobile TV (130), Mobile Video (65), Mobile WiMax/WiBro (92), Mobile/Wireless (5877), Packet Core (61), Radio Access Network (236), TD-SCDMA (Chinese 3G) (67), Transmission (38), Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) (8), UMTS(3G) (340), Voice Core (21), WiMax (880), Wireless Backhaul (272), Wireless Chips (191), Wireless LAN (354)
Optical Networking
40-Gbit/s transmission (452), Core optical switches (760), CWDM (289), DWDM (1842), Long-haul WDM equipment (654), Metro optical switches, ROADMs (1173), Metro WDM equipment (773), Multiservice provisioning platforms & add/drop muxes (375), Optical equipment (2191), Optical switches & crossconnects (398), Optical technologies (417), Sonet/SDH (1036), Sonet/SDH chips (351), Wavelength services (305)
Security
Anti-virus (29), Denial-of-service attacks (44), Encryption (97), Endpoint security (22), Firewalls (61), Intrusion detection & prevention (45), IPSec VPN (801), Security (1835), SSL VPN (862), URL filtering (12), User authentication (24)
Services Software
Activation (415), Billing systems (761), Content/software downloads (231), Customer relationship management (231), Data Integrity (61), Element management systems (36), Fault management (69), Inventory management (153), Mediation systems (204), Messaging (231), Middleware (72), Mobile location (41), OSS (2584), Performance monitoring (335), Policy control (269), Provisioning (553), Revenue assurance & fraud management (334), Service delivery platforms (SDPs) (328), Service management (220), Service-oriented architectures (310), Services (2480), Web gateways (56), Web services (124), XML (51)
Test & Measurement (Sponsored by Etaliq Inc)
Access equipment Access test & measurement equipment (126), Comm chips Comm chips test & measurement equipment (29), Ethernet equipment Ethernet test & measurement equipment (170), IP equipment IP test & measurement equipment (122), MPLS MPLS test & measurement equipment (14), Optical components Optical components test & measurement equipment (113), Optical equipment Optical test & measurement equipment (886), OSS OSS test & measurement (1059), Sonet/SDH Sonet/SDH test & measurement equipment (1599), Test & measurement (1755), VOIP equipment VOIP test & measurement equipment (145)
Video (Sponsored by Ericsson Televisionary)
Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Broadcast video equipment (including encoding) (730), Content delivery network (CDN) (394), Content protection (270), DVRs (665), Internet Video (840), IPTV (3461), Middleware & business support systems (845), Set-top boxes (1624), Stored video servers (379), TV (3581), Video equipment (2448), Video services (4130), Video software (1349), Videophone (185), VOD (2635)
VOIP
Application servers (186), Centrex (198), Conferencing (78), Contact centers (38), Enhanced voice (34), Enterprise (637), Media gateways (357), Messaging (73), Presence management (43), Residential (835), Session border controllers (398), Signaling gateways (104), Softswitches (1090), VOIP chips (167), VOIP equipment (3423), VOIP services (3768), VOIP software (620), VOIP VPNs (28), Wholesale (220)
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
