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Cox wraps up 4G wireless tests, rolling out 3G

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

Date: 01/28/2010

Cox Communications Inc. has wrapped up testing on a fourth generation of cellular technology in the Phoenix and San Diego area as the Atlanta-based company rolls out wireless its 3G service in select markets.

Tests on the 4G system, also known as long-term evolution or LTE, were conducted at the end of 2009.

Cox Arizona officials said the tests went well, with the wireless system capable of downloading high-definition content to mobile devices as well as faster Internet connection speeds.

“The ability of the things that we showed with it is pretty amazing,” said Josh Nelson, vice president of information technology at Cox Arizona who headed up the trial team for the state.

LTE is one of the standards being developed for the next generation of wireless phones. Many mobile devices today, such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Nexus One, use 3G technology to access streaming media and boost their overall connectivity.

The fourth-generation offers much higher connection speeds, about 100 megabits per second compared with about 14 mbps for 3G. The technology also offers speeds up to 1 gigabit per second for wireless computers.

“Obviously phones are the easy product when you talk about wireless, but it opens up a lot of different opportunities,” he said.

The technology is at least a couple years away from consumer use, and maybe five years from being as ubiquitous as 3G, said Mark Goldstein, president of the International Research Center in Phoenix.

But Cox might be in better shape to develop a 4G network than other providers because it has infrastructure in place that provides connections from the core of the network to outlying areas, Goldstein said. Other companies are developing infrastructure as well as upgrading 2G sites to 3G.

Cox spent more than $550 million for radio spectrum licenses to support its wireless endeavors over the last few years and already has rolled out the 3G services to customers in Hampton Roads, Va., Orange County, Calif., and Omaha, Neb. Phoenix will get the service soon.

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