Cox Communications is preparing to start a wireless service this year, says the Wall Street Journal. With six million subscribers, the Atlanta-based cable operator is the third-largest MSO in the U.S., offering service mainly in the South and Southwest.

It is building its own cellular network, a strategy that contrasts sharply with that of its peers, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, that are backing wireless start-up Clearwire.

Cox paid $248.3 million for AWS licenses in 2006, and is transferring those licenses out of SpectrumCo and directly to Cox. Separately, they bought 700 MHz spectrum for $304M in 2008.

• The FCC’s 700 MHz auction raised $19.6 billion for the U.S. Treasury with AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless accounting for the bulk ($16 billion). Cox spent $304M for 14, A blocks and 8, B blocks in the 700 MHz band.
• In a separate but related joint venture, SpectrumCo, an AWS bidding consortium with Cox, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, picked up 137 licenses in 2006’s Advanced Wireless Services auction (at 1.7/2.1 GHz). SpectrumCo won a total of 137 AWS licenses for $2.37 billion. Comcast’s share was $1.29 billion, followed by Time Warner Cable’s $632.2 million, and Cox’s $248.3 million. (See SpectrumCo Gets Licenses).

According to Cox Communications Wireless Vice President Stephen Bye, “Our networks will be using our AWS spectrum initially but we are looking to take advantage of our 700 spectrum. It’s a new band and the technology is still in its infancy but we’ll definitely take advantage of that as the ecosystem evolves around 700 MHz”.

“We’re going to be launching with 3G”, said Bye in an interview with Fierce Wireless. “As we build our network it is with a view to 4G. Our 3G network is there to support what handsets are available today; 4G is still some time out there in the future… and we want to be on a path to get to 4G and minimize that investment to get there.

Cox plans to offer cellphone service as well as wireless broadband access for laptops in its home markets. It will use roaming deals with national wireless providers so users can get service elsewhere.

Small cellphone companies like MetroPCS Communications and Leap Wireless have achieved market penetration from 8% to 13% in the areas where they’ve been offering service for at least five years, say industry analyists.

Will Cox offer roaming relationships with CDMA provider Sprint, GSM-style AWS phones (like T-Mobile), and LTE-enabled 700 MHZ phones (like Verizon)? Seems screwy.

Meanwhile, Comcast and Time Warner are stuck with their white elephant on AWS. Now Comcast and Time Warner’s AWS investment seem redundant. They’ve got WiMAX. Maybe they can sell their excess AWS spectrum to AT&T. Mixing AWS, Mobile WiMAX and multiple flavors of cellular (including GSM, CDMA and LTE), would be nuts. But that’s what they’ve got.

Cable operators have more money than sense. Maybe mobile television will save them.

Related 700 MHz articles on Dailywireless include; Cox Cable Wireless Plans , Verizon Jumps LTE Rollout, Cox Plans 700MHz Phone Service, Motorola Tests 700 MHz LTE, White Spaces: Green Light from FCC Report, AWS: Strike Out for Comcast?, Embarq Buying Larger CenturyTel, Hearings on 700MHz Auction, T-Mobile Launches AWS in NYC, Free 2155-2175 MHz!, 700MHz: Money Talks, Reed Hundt Talks, Congressional Fix for Universal Service, Verizon Makes its Move for Universal Service Fund, FCC Finalizes Rules on 700MHz: Limited Open Access, No Wholesale Requirement, Frontline: Out of Business.

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Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 12:31 pm.