TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: CableVision Pursuing Wireless Plan


CableVision Pursuing Wireless Plan


Yinka Adegoke (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:07:04 -0500

By Yinka Adegoke

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. said on
Tuesday it plans to make its digital home phone network compatible
with any U.S. wireless network, allowing subscribers to transfer calls
between the two.

Patricia Gottesman, Cablevision's executive vice-president of product
management and marketing, told Reuters on the sidelines of a
conference the company had "aggressive" plans to deliver such a
service but gave no time frame.

Cable companies and telephone companies have talked about converging
wireline and wireless services for years, but no major operator has
yet to launch such a product.

"Our network can allow us to have fixed line convergence with any
wireless carrier that our customers prefer," Gottesman told a Standard
& Poor's Telecommunications Conference.

She told Reuters: "We think there are enormous opportunities ... to
converge with wireless services from all major providers."

A source close to the company said its digital phone network, which
delivers calls over the Internet, is compatible with wireless
networks, allowing one phone to be used as both a cellphone and a home
phone.

Cablevision, which has 3 million subscribers predominantly in the Long
Island, New York area, says 20 percent of its cable television
subscribers also take its digital phone service.

The company was the only major cable operator not to join
Sprint-Nextel Corp. in forming a joint venture, first announced in
November 2005, that aimed to explore combining mobile phone services
with television, home phone and Internet services.

Operators including Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc.'s cable unit and
Cox Communications joined the venture.

Copyright 2006 Reuters.

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