Cox readies launch of wireless cell service

WITH THE PROGRAM: Amanda Flynn, left, waits as Cox employee Kerri Periera 
programs her new cellphone at the Solutions Store at Warwick Mall. /
WITH THE PROGRAM: Amanda Flynn, left, waits as Cox employee Kerri Periera programs her new cellphone at the Solutions Store at Warwick Mall. /

In much of Rhode Island, Cox Communications Inc. will sell you Internet access, cable television and land-line phone service. Now, the media giant wants to sell you a cellphone and an accompanying wireless plan.
Cox announced in April plans to offer wireless service in the Ocean State. Company officials are tight-lipped about when the service will start, but previous rollouts imply service could start as early as this summer.
Atlanta-based Cox is “closer than ever” to launching, local spokeswoman Amy Quinn said late last month.
Quinn said plans in the Ocean State would mirror those the company already offers in other parts of the country. In those areas in California, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Virginia, Cox offers individual voice plans starting at $39.99 a month up to a combination data/voice package for $99.99 a month. In general, the company’s prices match or track closely plans from companies already in Rhode Island, including AT&T, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless.
Cox is touting its service as “unbelievably fair,” saying that the company will refund customers for the cost of some unused talk minutes and provide alerts to customers approaching their plan limits. Earlier this year, Cox launched an advertising blitz in Rhode Island with ads that pit Cox’s service against an unnamed competitor explaining fee after fee to a potential customer.
Cox also launched stores at the Warwick Mall and Crossings at Smithfield where potential customers can browse phones and discuss plans. Quinn said plans are in the works to launch or rebrand at least three more stores in the state.
The company’s aggressive foray into the wireless market does not surprise Ross Rubin, a wireless industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group. Rubin said Cox is primarily a media company focused on delivering content to customers. As Americans shun televisions in favor of cellphones, iPads, Kindles and the like, Cox faces a threat to its traditional cable business. “The incumbent cable companies want to make sure you’re getting that mobile programming from them,” Rubin said.
Rubin says Cox faces a crowded wireless market and as a startup may have difficultly matching the phone offerings and the service coverage areas of competitors. Still, the company holds a key advantage: its existing cable, Internet and land-line phone customers.
The privately held company won’t say how many customers it already has in Rhode Island or how many wireless customers it hopes to gain. But Rubin says Cox could build on existing customer relationships by offering bundles that include wireless service. The company could offer a “quadruple play” that bundles wireless and land-line phone service along with Internet access and cable television.
“Clearly, they want you to be all in with their services,” Rubin said of communication companies.
Last year, Cox President Pat Esser told Bloomberg News that the company saw wireless as the “fourth leg of our bundle” and as another avenue for customers to access its content. And Quinn said the rise of portable devices is not lost on the company.
“Consumers today want to access their entertainment and communications wherever they are, whenever they want and however they want and Cox Wireless will allow them to do that,” she said.
In other parts of the country, Cox is also working to entice customers to combine wireless with its other products, offering perks for customers who opt for bundles.
“Launching wireless is very important to us in terms of our competitive arsenal,” she said.
That arsenal is aimed directly at some of the biggest names in the telecommunications market, including behemoth Verizon Wireless. Michael Murphy, spokesperson for Verizon Wireless New England, said competition is not new to Rhode Island. And he touted the company’s investment in its infrastructure, including a new cell site and a recently opened a store in Warwick. Jon Munoz, a spokesman for Sprint, noted that Cox uses Sprint’s network.
“Sprint believes our wholesale wireless customers’ success is our success and we strive to provide them with the assets and support they need,” Munoz said. “Sprint supports competition and the availability of many consumer options in the market. They are able to differentiate themselves in the wireless world by bundling wireless with their core product set.”
Cox initially planned to build some of its own infrastructure and rely on Sprint for other areas. But the company dropped the idea in favor of using Sprint’s 3G network nationwide. Quinn said the decision allows Cox to focus on customer service, marketing and back-office functions without the responsibility of maintaining a large infrastructure.
“While we’re using their network we actually own every aspect of the service,” she said. “It’s not like we’re just rebranding their service.”
In 2008, Cox and other cable companies dropped a short-lived partnership with Sprint to rebrand the telecom giant’s service under the name Pivot.
Rubin said it’s not surprising that Cox would pick Rhode Island as one of the first places to unroll wireless. He said communications companies typically start in smaller markets while they work out bugs in the system and refine marketing strategies.
For its part, Quinn said Cox chose Rhode Island as the second batch of markets to deploy its wireless service based on “several factors,” including the size of market and anticipated customer demand.
What the Cox entrance will mean for consumers, though, remains to be seen. Rubin said the makeup of such bundles offered by Cox would likely drive any price changes.
“Consumers generally benefit when there’s increased competition in the marketplace and it comes at a time when there’s concern about dwindling competition … due to the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile,” Rubin said. &#8226

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