Cox Communications, the fifth largest cable operator in the United States, is launching its own cellular service, initially in Hampton Roads, Va., Omaha, Neb., and Orange County, Calif. Cox Wireless will be available to all 1.5 million subscribers Cox has there.
Cox is leasing access on Sprint’s national 3G CDMA network, but is supporting wireless customers via its own core network and systems.
Cox is using Sprint for nationwide 3G service, but the company has spent more than $550 million for its own spectrum licenses in the 700 MHz spectrum in the 2008 auction. In addition, Cox bought spectrum in the 2006 Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) auction. The company said that it eventually plans to move up to 4G LTE technology, probably using its own spectrum.
Cox wireless pricing is competitive: $39.99 per month buys 450 voice minutes while $99.99 each month gains unlimited talk, text and web use. Individual data plans are $30 a month for unlimited data to smartphones while $60 each month buys 5 GB of service for a mobile broadband modem.
A key differentiator is the $5 to $20 monthly credit for unused minutes on the limited plans.
Cox is offering both feature phones and smartphones, such as the Motorola Milestone and HTC Desire, two Android devices that launched within the past year.
Handsets include smartphones and lower cost feature phones such as:
HTC Desire. An Android enabled touch smartphone with WiFi, 1 GHz processing speeds and HTC SenseTM interface
- Motorola Milestone. an Android enabled smartphone with WiFi, Qwerty slider keyboard, advanced processor with 3G speed, 3.7-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera
- LG Axis. An Android enabled smartphone with 3.2” (480x 800) touchscreen and slide out QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi and 3.0 MP camera which support panoramic shots
- HTC Hero. An Android enabled smartphone with WiFi and 3.2-inch touch screen
- HTC Wildfire. An Android enabled smartphone with WiFi featuring app-sharing widget that works on Twitter, texts or email with a 3.2-inch touch screen
- Samsung Messager Touch. A Brew enabled multimedia device featuring a 2.6-inch touch-screen, QWERTY keypad, pre-loaded widgets and 100 MB of storage
Early termination fees decrease by 1/24 each month, unlike other carriers. Cox will also send a free text if customers approach 95 percent of their monthly minutes or messages.
Cox’s wireless service has been on the drawing board for several years and appears positioned to cut the cord with Sprint, at least in areas where it offers cable service.
Cox owns 12 megahertz of spectrum licenses covering 76% of its wireline footprint. Cox is using $550 million worth of spectrum space that it bought in the FCC’s Advanced Wireless Services and 700 MHz wireless auctions to build its own 3G EV-DO network. The company said it plans to move up to 4G LTE technology.
Cox has been testing LTE in Arizona and San Diego using its AWS and 700MHz spectrum, but isn’t saying when it intends to introduce service. Their 700 MHz coverage is limited to just 14 “A” blocks, or 6.6 percent of the population, while its 8 “B” blocks cover just 0.6 percent, mostly in it’s cable territories.
Cox was part of the joint partnership called SpectrumCo with other cable operators to buy AWS spectrum. Cox later bailed from that partnership although Comcast and Time Warner still own some $2.37 billion in spectrum on the AWS band (1.7/2.1 GHz).
Cable’s SpectrumCo consortium acquired AWS licenses at low cost in the 2006 FCC auction. Cable operators can now create a true national footprint covering the MSOs’ top cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Just look at the coverage map.
SpectrumCo, the 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). Cox paid $248.3 million for AWS licenses in 2006, and transfered those licenses out of SpectrumCo and directly to Cox.
Significantly, only T-Mobile, Cricket and MetroPCS have activated their AWS spectrum. Neither the cable operators nor AT&T or Verizon have activated any AWS service – yet. T-Mobile is using their spectrum to deliver HSPA+ service, nationwide. AT&T and Verizon, in contrast, paid more than $4 billion for their AWS spectrum — which remains untouched.
| Bidders | Net total of high bids |
| 1. T-Mobile | $4.2 billion |
| 2. Verizon Wireless | $2.8 billion |
| 3. SpectrumCo | $2.4 billion |
| 4. MetroPCS | $1.4 billion |
| 5. Cingular | $1.3 billion |
| 6. Cricket | $710 million |
| 7. Denali Spectrum | $365 million |
| 8. Barat Wireless | $127 million |
| 9. AWS Wireless | $116 million |
| 10. Atlantic Wireless | $81 million |
| Click here to find out who is backing these bidders. | |
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700 MHz Spectrum Winners (2008) Source: Telephony
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Cable operators are currently sitting on their AWS spectrum. Any plans for a nationwide LTE service — run by a consortium of cable operators – have not been announced.
The biggest MSOs – Comcast and T-W Cable – bought into the Clearwire WiMAX franchise. Comcast invested more than $1B and T-W more than $500M into Clearwire with rights to use the 2.6 GHz spectrum. Now it appears that cable operators are cool to investing more in WiMAX.
Cable operators may be forced to show their hand in the next few months as cellcos roll out nationwide LTE service, Clearwire tries to unload spectrum and satphone companies look to partner. Here are some of the players:
- Nationwide LTE networks from Verizon and AT&T (700MHz)
- Nationwide HSPA+ network from T-Mobile using AWS (1.7/2.1 GHz)
- Nationwide WiMAX network from Sprint/Clearwire (2.6 GHz)
- Potential nationwide satphone/terrestrial service from Lightsquared (1.6 GHz)
- Potential nationwide cable LTE service using AWS (1.7/2.1 GHz)
How could this shake out? Will the dominance of AT&T/Verizon be broken? Some investors think so. Your guess may be as good as theirs.
Cable companies have at least one big advantage: Hanging microcells from overhead cable is lots cheaper than building towers.
The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7761-CM is a strand-mounted dual-band 802.11n access point while the strand-mounted Belair 100SP supports a range of licensed 3G radios, with a migration to LTE, along with dual 802.11n radios [thanks, Roger].
Related Dailywireless articles include; LTE: Cox Cable Calling, FCC Okays Terrestrial LTE for SkyTerra, Battle of the Bands Goes to Congress, Phoney Spectrum Scarcity , T-Mobile: Now HSPA+ Coverage for 75M, Clear: No Limits, FCC to Okay $2.3B AT&T Deal, Cellcos: One Thing – Bandwidth, T-Mobile Eyeing Clear Spectrum, FCC Considers Auctioning Off TV Frequencies, AT&T Data Caps Extend to Femtocells, AT&T’s New Data Plans,White Spaces Trialed in North Carolina, FCC: Change for Broadcasting & USF, FCC Moves Forward with White Space Databases, Comcast Goes Mobile with WiMAX, Time-Warner Adding Mobile WiMAX Service, National Broadband Plan Previewed, FCC “Finds” 500MHz?, FCC to Auction TV Airwaves?,
