While all those cry-Baby Bells fight over who has what rights to which cellular phone markets, cable TV giants like Cox Enterprises have been quietly laying thousands of miles of coaxial cable. And if Cox has anything to do with it, there'll be more than I Love Lucy reruns traveling that high-bandwidth cable.
Cox is testing new digital technology that uses the company's cable television lines as the transmission media for mobile telephone calls. It works like this: The caller's phone sends out radio signals that are recieved by "microcells," little boxes the size of a four-slice toaster that are strategically located along Cox's cable network. (Much of the cable TV network is strung on telephone poles, right alongside standard phone lines.) The microcells then send the call along the cable network, where it is transferred to the local phone company's switches. The local phone company then provides local and long-distance connections, if necessary.
Cox, a diversified media company with holdings in newspapers, radio, television and even an independent phone company, has applied to the FCC for rights to radio frequencies necessary to make the system work. (The FCC recently freed-up some frequencies for what it calls Personal Communications Services, or PCS.) If approved, Cox's new phone services may force down the market cost of mobile telephones and give the Baby Bells a run for their cellular money. But don't expect to see much happen until the FCC makes a firm decision as to who gets to play in this new market. That could take another year, at least.
ELECTRIC WORD
Nocturnal Powerbooks Prowl German Clubs
From Computer Bibles to Real Stories
A Report From the Creeping Tendrils of Fringe Culture
The Newspaper Industry Gets Its First R&D Lab
Lost In Japan? Not With This Gadget
Cable Television Calling
Yeah, but will it improve the food? Get yer seat-back service here!
