Sprint Corp yesterday formally announced its alliance with three cable television companies to enter the local telephone market. It will hold 40% of the joint venture with Tele-Communications Inc holding 30% and Comcast Corp and Cox Cable Inc holding 15% each. The venture will package local telephone, long distance and wireless communications services with cable television in a single offering. The alliance will be based primarily on fixed line telephone service but will allow for future mobile phone ventures between the companies. The cable companies are upgrading their systems to make delivery of broadband, digital telephone and other advanced telecommunications services possible. When regulatory and legislative barriers to local telephone services are removed, the venture could begin delivering voice, video and data services within the next year, they said; their existing facilities pass about one-third of the homes in the US, and other cablers will be offered incentives to affiliate with the venture. The quartet will bid jointly for Personal Communications Services licences. The Teleport Communications Group Metropolitan Area Network operator owned by the cable companies, will be a centrepiece of the venture.
Content from our partners
