Time Warner Cable is considering adding wireless phone services, in partnership with one or two wireless companies, to complement the traditional telephone service it is offering with its cable television and Internet packages, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
Competition between cable and phone companies is swelling as each business positions itself to go after the other's core customers. Wireless could emerge as yet another battleground between the two industries.
"We think that wireless is another element of the bundle that we need to incorporate," said Don Logan, chairman of Time Warner Inc.'s media and communications group, which oversees Time Warner Cable. "I expect that over the ... course of this year that we are going to be looking hard at that."
The competition centers on the concept of service "bundles," in which cable and phone companies sell services ranging from video to phone to high-speed Internet. By bundling the services, the companies are betting they can keep their customers from switching to rivals.
Time Warner is one of several cable television companies offering phone service over its cable lines. Cablevision Systems Corp. announced a $90 package that combines video, Internet and voice that takes aim phone companies' bundles.
Meanwhile SBC Communications Inc. is the latest phone company investing billions of dollars to upgrade their networks over the next five years to accommodate the delivery of video.
Verizon Communications sells a package that includes traditional local and long service service, wireless and high-speed Internet.
Logan said Time Warner Cable would likely work with one or two wireless companies, he told reporters after a presentation at the SuperComm telecommunications trade show, but he added that the company was not in any formal discussions.
"We have to focus on our basic phone service," Logan said. "We can't screw that up." The company said in December it would introduce phone service in Maine, New York and North Carolina, with the help of Sprint Corp. and MCI, and plans to expand to its entire service area this year.
He added that Time Warner Cable could eventually look at wireless Internet technologies like Wi-Fi, but that would be a few years away.
