Cox Communications plans to strike out on its own in the cellular service game, abandoning other cable companies in its efforts to become competitive.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Cox will build its own cellular network instead of partnering with Comcast and Time Warner Cable, both of whom are investing in a wireless start-up named Clearwater. Meanwhile, those companies are trying to figure out how to find success with such a service.
The split came after Cox and the other two companies along with Sprint Nextel failed to agree on another joint venture called pivot. Negotiations broke down over marketing and pricing issues.
But let's back up a second. Why, in a recession, does Cox want to push forward with such an ambitious initiative? Stephen Bye, Cox's vice president of wireless, tells the Journal that it's all about the bundling, allowing the company to offer TV, wireless and broadband together.
The company also wants to get into mobile TV, possibly allowing subscribers to watch cable content on their phones. A mobile software store (as in, an App store) could follow as well.
I'm a bit skeptical about those two offerings, as the jury is still out on mobile TV's success in the US, and a full-fledged application store seems too far off at the moment. But I do like the idea of putting together wireless service with cable and/or Internet. The existing "Triple Play" packages of broadband phone, cable and Internet that most cable companies offer these days aren't appealing to me because I'm not interested in landlines. It would be nice to have an alternative that yields a similar discount.
There's no word in the report on how long it will take for Cox to get started or when the new services will be available.
