Cox announced that add a wireless component to its bundled offering that includes TV, high speed Internet, and telephone services today. Cox will utilize Sprint's wireless network to enter the market in 2009. At the same time, Cox is building its own 3G wireless network for additional market launches in 2009. Cox will also test 4G technology utilizing LTE. Cox acquired 700 MHz spectrum in about 10 areas in the U.S., including Los Angeles, Phoenix/Tucson, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Atlanta.
Cox partnering with Sprint is no surprise since it is one of the partners in the Clearwire deal. However, its strategy is not clear. It seems to be creating an offering with a large set of incompatible technologies. It will be interesting to see how Cox weaves all of this together in a way that makes sense to its cable customers. There is no compatibility between CDMA, WiMAX, and 3G. It does not seem likely to me that they will find any handsets that can support all of these serves.
Showing posts with label Cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cox. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, February 9, 2007
U.S. Cable Upgrades Set-top Boxes
In the U.S., Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner are adopting set-top boxes that support Docsis Set-top Gateway (DSG) technology and OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) middleware.
DSG uses DOCSIS cable modem technolgoy for out-of-band video signaling. It enables cable operators to send and receive data from subscriber set-top boxes that include electronic program guides, emergency alerts, and downloadable conditional access.
The OCAP middleware provides a standard interface that can support common third party applications across multiple set-top boxes and across multiple cable operators.
DSG and OCAP bring many of the advantages of IPTV to the cable companies. The cable companies will slowly deploy this technology, using it mainly to support new digital subscribers. It is quite unlikely that they will make a wholesale swap out. This means that the IPTV networks will continue to have significant technical advantages over cable networks in terms of deployed capability.
DSG uses DOCSIS cable modem technolgoy for out-of-band video signaling. It enables cable operators to send and receive data from subscriber set-top boxes that include electronic program guides, emergency alerts, and downloadable conditional access.
The OCAP middleware provides a standard interface that can support common third party applications across multiple set-top boxes and across multiple cable operators.
DSG and OCAP bring many of the advantages of IPTV to the cable companies. The cable companies will slowly deploy this technology, using it mainly to support new digital subscribers. It is quite unlikely that they will make a wholesale swap out. This means that the IPTV networks will continue to have significant technical advantages over cable networks in terms of deployed capability.
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