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Aug. 1, 2009

Cablevision said late yesterday that it expects to offer wireless voice service in the near future.

Company CEO Tom Rutledge said during the company’s second-quarter conference call yesterday “I think that a wireless voice network riding on top of a wireless data network is inevitable, and Cablevision is certainly looking forward to that."

The cable company is looking to leverage a wide network of Wi-Fi hot spots and Wi-Fi service within its subscribers’ homes into a full-fledged wireless voice service.

Given Cablevision’s statement that this will involve very little in new capital investments, Pali Research said it suspects the cable provider would partner with an existing wireless player, citing T-Mobile USA as a possibility, given T-Mobile’s focus on a wireless product that seamlessly transitions between its voice/data wireless network and Wi-Fi offerings.

The concept of a "Metropolitan", "Municipal" or "Wide-Area" Wi-Fi network isn't new. A similar solution is being investigated by Wi-Fi software provider DeviceScape, and the company currently is asking users of its Wi-Fi software to geo-tag and report open Wi-Fi hot spots.

This will essentially create a reliable and free Wi-Fi network, which is the whole idea behind the project.

A recent Devicescape survey found that wireless consumers would be willing to share their Wi-Fi connection if adequate security and proper filtering measures were in place.

Users also said they still expect high availability as well as a rapid Internet connection, and would not be ready to compromise on it, Wi-Fi or not.

With Cablevision's new Wi-Fi plans, now various wireless industry analysts are expecting other cable companies will soon follow in its path.

The idea isn't new and certainly deserves merit. What's more, the majority of cable providers today own most of their infrastructure anyway, so yes, new capital investments will be kept at a minimum.

It will be interesting to see how other wireless providers will try to deal with this. If Cablevision does it, so will Verizon, Comcast and many others, but what about the smaller wireless operators?

Time will tell, and Wireless Industry News will keep you posted, as always.

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Source: Cablevision Inc.