Just last week, Cox (News - Alert) was touting plans to expand its network. In addition, a huge number of customers have been signing on with Cox, thanks in large part to its “Unbelievably Fair” wireless plan in which the company issues cash refunds of up to $20 a month for unused minutes.
President Pat Esser said on Wednesday that Cox will either sell the entire network to Verizon, AT&T (News 
- Alert), or Sprint, or they might just break it up and sell it off in pieces.
Cox has experienced not only an increase in its customer base, but those customers are also running up larger monthly usage bills than anticipated.
So, the question becomes why the turnaround and furthermore, what does the decision signal for other companies pondering entry into the nationwide wireless market?
Indications are that Cox felt that managing the network over the long-term would not be feasible economically.
There have been many warning signs that the next ten years will see dramatic changes in the traditional mobile phone market, including declines in the sales of voice minutes and text messaging plans. Many carriers feel that the new focus on data plans will balance out the decline, but it appears Cox does not concur.
It remains to be seen whether or not current or future entrants in the mobile network arena are able to create business plans that will allow them to compete with the mobile giants or whether they will fall away like Cox.
Stay tuned.
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John Lahtinen is Community Development Editor for TMCnet. He has more than 15 years of combined professional and educational experience involving news, education, and marketing. John holds a master's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
