What Does Cox's 3G Move Really Mean?

The news that Cox Communications has launched cell phone service in three markets -- Orange County, Calif., Omaha and Hampton Roads, Va., its traditional training wheels systems â€" is not a surprise, of course. The operator had announced in 2008 that it would do so, though it seems that the introduction is late.

What the move means in the big picture

It's interesting to consider what the move means in the big picture. The cable industry is extremely good at the things it is good at. That started with video, a business it came to dominate and in which it still is the big Kahuna, though satellite and IPTV competition has taken a bit of the bloom off the rose. It made moves into the Internet and wired phone games and has done extremely well.

The two businesses in which the cable industry has had problems are commercial services and cellular. While it has had some success in providing business services, even its biggest supporters wouldn't suggest that the industry has fully exploited its advantages, which include a huge universe of small and medium-sized business prospects willing to listen to its pitch and fiber rings at or near their customer base.

Its cell phone fate has been even grimmer. The Pivot cellular service co-owned by Cox, Comcast, Time Warner and Sprint failed about two-and-a-half years ago. Besides that, there hasn't been a whole lot of action.

Much valuable marketing and operational information will be collected by Cox in its 3G rollout, and much of it will be applicable in the 4G realm. When the cable industry was readying its push into wired VoIP a decade ago, it used its experience in ongoing legacy phone services to prepare, since the newer service was not ready for prime time. The bottom line is that much of the information that is gathered -- how to process and activate customers, for instance -- is valuable across network types.