Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner ferreted out this scoop: despite the fact that its AWS spectrum partners Comcast and Time Warner will not bid in the upcoming 700 Mhz spectrum auctions, Cox Communications, the nation's third largest cable operator, will indeed participate. In an email to Baumgartner, Cox said:
We remain committed to furthering our plans for the convergence and mobility of our services and believe that bidding on this 700 MHz spectrum could provide us with another alternative that would support our goals.
This move makes a lot of sense. Cox was an early leader in delivering telephony-over-cable, pushing telephony out to virtually all of its markets through circuit-switched technology before gradually shifting over to VoIP-based service.
Moreover, Cox, which went private in early 2005, isn't under Wall Street's impatient scrutiny and can more easily afford to spend the money that the 700 Mhz licenses would dictate. Early rumors that Comcast and Time Warner Cable would bid for the spectrum, thereby potentially dampening short-term cash flow growth, sent both companies' stock prices skittering south earlier this fall.
Cynthia Brumfield at 6:21 PM|Comments(0)
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