Cox Becomes Latest Cable Company to Join Verizon Wireless - The UpStream

Cox Becomes Latest Cable Company to Join Verizon Wireless

posted Saturday Dec 17, 2011 by Scott Ertz

Cox Becomes Latest Cable Company to Join Verizon Wireless

A few weeks ago, Verizon made some agreements with cable providers to enhance their wireless network. Bright House, Comcast and Time Warner all had spectrum won in the post-analog television auctions, yet none of the companies had planned to build their own wireless networks. Together they licensed their spectrum to Verizon in exchange for reseller and branding agreements.

This week, Cox Communications, not wanting to be left out, has joined the group in giving control of their owned spectrum to Verizon. The deal with Cox will allow Verizon to sell Cox service in their retail stores, and vice versa. This is an important move for Verizon, because they have decided to stop building out their own FiOS service.

What does this partnership mean for Verizon and Cox customers? Hit the break to find out.

Until now, Cox has had a reseller agreement with Sprint Nextel, but the company plans to phase out that service by March of 2012. While this news spells trouble for Sprint Nextel, just as the previous partnerships affected Clearwire, this is all very good news for Verizon Wireless and their LTE service. Verizon Wireless, currently offering the fastest mobile data service, knows that their time is short because they chose to go with a lower quality LTE service than that of AT&T and Sprint Nextel (through Clearwire and LightSquared). The only way to complete at this point is for Verizon to upgrade their existing network or damage the competition. AT&T has been doing a good job of that on their own, so focusing on Sprint Nextel and their partners is essential.

By taking Sprint's partners, and their spectrum, they are able to accomplish both damaging the competition and enhancing their own network. Pretty clever, Verizon. Now, if they can just run this business better than they have their FiOS business, everyone will be happy (except AT&T and Sprint Nextel stockholders, of course).

Advertisement

Login to CommentWhat You're Saying

Be the first to comment!

We're live now - Join us!
PLUGHITZ Keyz

Email

Password

Forgot password? Recover here.
Not a member? Register now.
Blog Meets Brand Stats