Cablevision Systems Corp. said Thursday it
completed the initial phase of its $300 million-plus Optimum Wi-Fi deployment in New York and expects to bring wireless Internet to its customers for free in the tristate area over the next two years.
Cablevision's strategy, as Cnet.com puts it, is not to operate the Wi-Fi service as a separate moneymaking venture, like EarthLink Inc. tried and failed to do because it was too expensive, but as a way to attract and retain customers of its regular broadband service.
Cablevision's Wi-Fi plans were announced
in May, which is also when Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. announced a
$14.5 billion deal to combine their WiMax businesses. The new joint venture is getting a $3.2 billion cash infusion from tech and cable giants including Intel Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks.
Sprint announced it was preparing to launch Xohm in its first city this month. With this deal, Sprint hopes to have between 120 million and 140 million customers in the U.S. on its WiMax network by the end of 2010.
Bloomberg.com says the Cablevision project is designed to give it an
edge against telephone companies invading its market, such as Verizon Communications Inc., which sells TV, voice, Internet and mobile-phone service in the same markets.
In early August, Mario Gabelli, whose Gamco Investors Inc. owns about 8% of Cablevision's share float, was rumored to be
pushing for a sale of one of Cablevision's units to help turn the stock price around. -
Baz HiralalSee announcement from CablevisionSee story from Yahoo! FinanceRead about Cablevision's strategy
Simon Leung
