Cox customers in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Omaha, Nebraska and Las Vegas now have access to Cox Mobile
Cox Communications is now piloting its new mobile phone service Cox Mobile in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Omaha, Nebraska and Las Vegas. The announcement comes more than a decade after the cable company shut down earlier mobile efforts, citing the inability to compete in the marketplace and to access “iconic wireless devices.”
Now, those located in the pilot regions will have access to 4G LTE and 5G coverage with Cox’s name on it, as well as Cox Internet and more than 4 million of the company’s Wi-Fi hotspots.
“We’ve done extensive research to understand what our customers want and expect from their mobile provider,” said company president Mark Greatrex. “Cox Mobile gives our customers what they asked for — a simple, flexible and reliable mobile experience wherever they go.”
While Cox has not formally announced its MVNO partner, the mobile services mirror those offered by Comcast and Charter Communications, which have publicly known MVNO pacts with Verizon, suggesting it may also be the carrier behind the new Cox services. For instance, Cox, like the other two, is selling by-the-Gig and unlimited data options and is first offering mobile services to its existing home broadband customers. Its Pay As You Gig option starts at $15 per gigabyte, and its Gig Unlimited tier sells for $45 per month per line.
Though Cox announced an MVNO agreement with Verizon in early 2021, a prior agreement between the cable company and Sprint caused a bit of a hangup. T-Mobile US, which merged with Sprint in 2020, argued at the time that because Cox was in previous agreement with Sprint, it should be required to use T-Mobile’s network for mobile services—and filed a lawsuit to back up its argument. However, a March 2022 court ruling ruled in Cox’s favor, allowing the company to move forward with its wireless plans in partnership with any MVNO of its choosing.
The cable company currently has about 6 million residential broadband customers, and said it plans to launch Cox Mobile in its remaining markets on a “rolling basis throughout the rest of the year. Those markets include parts of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Rhode Island.
With the launch, Cox is now part of a broader trend what sees cable companies getting into the mobile space. In addition to Comcast and Charter, which have been growing their mobile business rapidly throughout 2022, Altice USA and WideOpenWest have also launched mobile services.
