All’s Fair In Mobile And War: Cox Launches Wireless Service

Cox Communications

Nearly a year after it started to promote its “Unbelievably Fair” mobile service, cable operator Cox has finally launched the product itself – which offers users a refund on the minutes they do not use each month. The big question now is whether a new entrant like Cox can pick up enough subscribers in an already saturated U.S. market to make the service profitable.

As expected, the service will first go live in Hampton Roads, Virginia; Omaha, Nebraska; and Orange County, California, markets where Cox has built out its own network using AWS and 700 MHz spectrum it bought in 2006 and 2008 for $550 million. The plan is to extend this service to other parts of its cable footprint, roaming on network from Sprint.

For now, Cox, the third-largest cable operator in the U.S., is not heavily promoting any cross-platform content services, or even triple-play or quad-play bundles. Rather, it is offering existing customers free upgrades, as a way to attract them to Cox Wireless. Advanced TV customers have the option of choosing one free premium entertainment channel – including, HBO, Showtime, Starz or Cinemax or Cox Movie Pak, which includes Encore, Epix, Sundance and Vutopia. High-speed Internet customers can upgrade their broadband service. Home telephone customers can add unlimited domestic long distance calling.

Initial handsets for the service will include five Android devices, two based on Brew, and several feature phones.

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