Cablevision, the 5th largest cable provider in the USA, announced today that it will build its own municipal wireless network, using Wi-Fi. The announcement came one day after Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced their joint venture with WiMax operators Sprint and Clearwire.
Cablevision, with most of its customers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania, plans to build a WiFi network covering its footprint within the next two years. The WiFi infrastructure would cost the company about $100 per customer, according to Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge. Cablevision currently has about 3.1 million cable customers on Long Island and in other areas around New York.
Subscribers of its Optimum cable modem service will get to use the wireless network free.
“The primary purpose is a free, value-added service to new or existing customers,” said Phil Solis, an analyst with ABI Research. That’s what sets this network apart from some of the other municipal networks that have failed, he said.
The company is already offering the Wi-Fi services in some areas, said COO Rutledge, speaking on Thursday during a conference call to discuss financial earnings.
The network should be relatively easy for Cablevision to build since the company already has a network of high-speed lines to attach Wi-Fi access points to. Radios like BelAir’s 100S are designed for mounting on existing cable infrastructure.
EarthLink currently operates Wi-Fi networks in a handful of cities, but is now selling its municipal Wi-Fi business unit.
Cable might seem well positioned to take over failing municipal wireless services, but licensed WiMAX frequencies, generating more revenue from mobile voice and data (with reliability, penetration and maintenance advantages), appears to have won over the largest cable operators for now.
Related DailyWireless articles include; FON + T/W Cable = Public Hotspots, Cable WiFi: The Neutron Dance, Scientific Atlanta Meshes with Tropos, Time/Warner Wireless?, Wireless Cable and Cable vs Digital Cities: Championship Fight.
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