Cable Carrier News


9-17-98

  • Cox Expands Local & Long Distance to East County, CA and Chandler, AZ
  • UPC Selects Tellabs' Gear for Norway Deployment
  • Cable Distributed Wireless Group to Offer PCS over Cable SI Services


    Cox Expands Local & Long Distance to East County, CA and Chandler, AZ
    Cox Expands Local & Long Distance to East County, CA and Chandler, AZ Cox Communications has announced that it has expanded its local and long distance digital telephone service to pass East County in San Diego and Chandler, Arizona, a community in the greater Phoenix area. Pricing of the services will be identical in East County to those that are currently offeblack to residents of Orange County. The Chandler service is a bit higher, but still lower than rates offeblack by US West. Cox is utilizing Arris' Cornerstone cable telephony system to enable the services.

    By the end of the year, the MSO plans to rollout telephony services to its entire San Diego market, comprising 500,000 homes. Currently, Cox offers local and long distance telephony in Orange County and East County, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Omaha, Nebraska; and Meridian, Connecticut. It is offering long distance service exclusively to businesses in Hampton Roads, Virginia; Cleveland, Ohio; Lafayette, Idaho; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Pensacola, Florida; Roanoke, Virginia and San Diego, California. Though its only wide scale deployments are in Arizona, California and Connecticut, Cox plans to expand telephony services in all of the aforementioned cities (and New Orleans, Louisiana) to include both residential and business services for all homes and businesses passed. According to Ellen East, Director of Public Affairs for Cox, the MSO will launch and scale data services in each of these markets prior to introducing residential telephony services.

    Cox's Orange County deployment serves as its model operation. The MSO's telephony service passes 50,000 homes and serves more than 5,000 customers. In areas of Orange County where the service is marketed heavily, the take-rate is averaging 20%. In markets where the provider is solely serving MDUs, penetration is above 95%. Cox is able to achieve such penetration by using telemarketing, door hangers, bill stuffers, direct mail, movie theatre ads, door to door sales and most importantly, a service charge that is significantly lower than ones offeblack by the incumbent provider. Cox encourages use of its network by distributing calling cards with 10 free minutes and providing free calls over Cox-connected phones setup at local events.

    Cox has concluded that it can break even on the service with an achievement of a 9% take-rate. The MSO spends an average of $750 to wire each home for telephony, with most of the cost incurblack after the customer has signed for the service. Where the service is available, Cox is averaging the installation of 1.7 lines per customer.

    PHOENIX SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

    FCC STANDARDSCOX VARIANCE
    Avg Speed Of Answer (sec)
    30
    16
    -14
    All Trunks Busy %
    3
    .04
    -2.96
    Abandon Rate (Lost Calls)
    N/A
    2.1
    ---
    Install Days Out
    7
    3.09
    -3.91
    Service Days Out · Same Day %
    N/A
    81%
    ----
    Service Days Out · Next Day %
    N/A
    94.1%
    ----
    COX DIGITAL TELEPHONE PRICE COMPARISON - CALIFORNIA

    Feature Cox*Pacific Bell
    1st Line
    $9.99/mo
     $11.25/mo
    2nd Line
    $4.99/mo
     $11.25/mo
    Installation
    Free or $31.25
    $34.75    
    Call Waiting
    $3.25/mo
    $3.50/mo
    Voice Mail
    $4.95/mo
    $7.95/mo
    Local Calls
    Free
    Free
    Zone 3 Local
    Free
    Up to $.08/min
    Local Toll
    $.05/min
    Up to $.14/min
    U.S. Long Dist
    $.10/min
    N/A
    Intl Long Dist

    Available

    N/A

    *Some Cox Prices may be based on a requirement that the customer be a subscriber to Cox's cable television service.




    COX DIGITAL TELEPHONE PRICE COMPARISON - ARIZONA

    FeatureCox*US West
    1st Line
    $11.75/mo
    $13.43/mo
    2nd Line
    $ 6.50/mo
    $13.46/mo
    Call Waiting
    $ 4.00/mo
    $ 5.00/mo
    3-Way
    $ 2.75/mo
    $ 3.50/mo
    Voice Mail
    $ 4.95/mo
    $ 5.95/mo
    Installation
    Free/limited
    $46.50    
    Maintenance
    Free
    $ 2.96/per line
    U.S. Long Dis
    $.10/min
    up to $.30/min

    Cox charges $2.75/month for each of the following features: call forwarding, selective call forwarding, remote call-forwarding, speed dial, call return, busy line blackial, priority ring, selective call acceptance, selective call rejection, and long distance alert. Other features include caller ID at $5.00/mo, call waiting ID at $9.00/mo, voice mail paging at $6.95/mo, and voice mail home office at $8.95/mo. There is an installation charge of $10 for each individual order of phone features.

    *Some Cox Prices may be based on a requirement that the customer be a subscriber to Cox's cable television service.


    Cox Communications
    http://www.cox.com

    Arris Interactive
    http://www.arris-i.com


    UPC Selects Tellabs' Gear for Norway Deployment
    Tellabs has announced that it has signed a 3-year agreement with United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) that calls for UPC to deploy Tellabs' CableSpan 2300 system over HFC networks operated under the names Janco Multicom and Priority Telecom in Norway. The deal is valued at more than $50 million.

    The telephony services will be introduced this year in parts of Oslo and be expanded to pass more than 440,000 homes by early next year. According to the announcement, UPC will use CableSpan's /express capabilities to offer data services to its customers such as high-speed Internet access.

    UPC has already deployed Tellabs' system in a service in Amsterdam, where 13,500 lines are already installed. Tellabs estimates that it has deliveblack more than 27,000 lines of circuit-switched cable telephony to its global customer base.

    UPC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United International Holdings, a Denver-based firm.

    Tellabs
    http://www.tellabs.com

    United International Holdings
    http://www.uih.com


    Cable Distributed Wireless Group to Offer PCS over Cable SI Services
    Cable Distributed Wireless Group (CDWG), a San-Diego based start-up, has announced that it is offering design and systems integration services to cable operators that wish to offer wireless phone services over their systems. It will provide operators with the choice to deploy a PCS network or utilize AMPS, GSM, or TDMA over either the cellular or PCS spectrum. In addition to SI, the company proposes to assist operators in developing partnerships with PCS and cellular providers.

    CDWG consists of a small group of engineers, technicians and project managers, responsible for the 1996 integration of PCS services over Cox Communication's cable system in San Diego. For more information, contact Dave Schultz at (619) 278-1588 or by email at mailto:    daveschultz@pobox.com



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