Cox (News - Alert) Communications, a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company, reportedly is all set to launch next-generation bundled services with wireless next year.

 

Cox officials say their company has a history of innovation – in 1997, they say, Cox became the first company to deliver digital video, high-speed Internet and telephone service through a single network.

 

More than 64 percent of Cox customers now buy multiple services from Cox and one-third subscribe to all three products.

 

Wireless service will be a key driver to Cox’s future growth, according to Pat Esser, president of Cox.

 

“As wireless communications enters the new generation, we are uniquely positioned to deliver the entertainment and communications services our customers want, whenever, however and wherever they want them,” Esser said.

 

Esser said that the bundled customers would become even “stickier” as the company offers them what he called “the best” customer experience. To deliver that experience, he said, the company will manage every aspect of the service, from product development to marketing and sales to back-office operations and customer support and billing.

 

A Nationwide Sprint (News - Alert) Network would be used by Cox to enter the market in 2009. The company at the same time is also building its own 3G wireless network for additional market launches next year.

 

Cox also plans to test 4G technology utilizing long term evolution. The company says it’s recently been successful in acquiring wireless spectrum in Federal Communications Commission auctions.

 

Reports of Cox benefiting from an FCC (News - Alert) deal may strike some readers as strange. As TMCnet reported earlier this month, the federal agency fined Cox and  Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable Inc. a combined $60,000 plus refunds, saying cable subscribers in two states were prevented from watching certain channels.

 

By using switched digital video technology, and Cox C ommunications Inc. effectively prevented some Hawaii and Virginia residents from watching some high-definition sports and entertainment channels, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

 

“It’s not fair for consumers to pay the same prices for fewer channels,” Robert Kenny, a spokesman for the FCC, reportedly told The Associated Press.

 

Nevertheless, Esser said that his company has already invested more than $500 million to acquire wireless spectrum and to develop the infrastructure and human resources needed to architect the company’s own advanced wireless service.

 

“As consumers are increasingly adopting a mobile lifestyle, we will continue to deliver in ways that are uniquely Cox,” he said, “offering the first truly integrated bundle that is easy-to-use, reliable and supported by the best customer service available.”