Broadband In The Air

Time Warner Cable’s Roudi Explains How WiMax Service Fits

By MCN Staff -- Multichannel News, 4/5/2010 1:19:28 AM

Time Warner Cable has wireless on the brain. The cable operator is an investor in and partner with broadbandwireless provider Clearwire — along with Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Bright House Networks, Intel and Google. TWC in late 2009 launched its first Road Runner Mobile markets, in Dallas, North Carolina and Hawaii. In 2010, the MSO is focused on bringing the Clearwire- provided service to five other major markets: New York City, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Mike Roudi, group vice president for Time Warner Cable’s mobile services group, said the operator learned from the short-lived Pivot venture with Sprint that a me-too product just doesn’t work.

“When we pivoted to Clearwire, we were able to deliver a truly diff erentiated product … that we can wrap completely into a bundled product,” he said. (Pun intended.)

In another project, TWC last month launched free Wi-Fi wireless Internet service in select New York City parks and commuter stations, provided to its 1 million broadband residential customers in the region for no additional cost, and will let subs access Cablevision Systems’ Wi-Fi access points as well.

Roudi spoke last week with Multichannel News technology editor Todd Spangler.

MCN: What other markets are you looking at for Wi-Fi?
Mike Roudi: I think to the extent that an opportunity presents itself, we will certainly look at it. But we are not pursuing a Cablevision-like strategy, where we’re going to deploy Wi-Fi across our footprint.

MCN: Why did you launch it in New York?
MR: No. 1, we wanted to get some learnings about how people use broadband outside the home. No. 2, we did it in conjunction with Cablevision, and so there seemed to be opportunities to put hot spots out there to have continuity among our Road Runner customers [in the New York area]. We view that as a value-added service.

MCN: How does the Wi-Fi initiative fit in with the WiMax offering? Do you risk confusing customers, after offering the Wi-Fi as a free add-on?
MR: We think they’re complementary. It’s not an “or” statement — it’s not Road Runner Mobile or Wi-Fi. I think consumers in general understand these sporadic Wi-Fi hot spots are convenient but they don’t guarantee you access to mobile broadband. Our Road Runner Mobile product is a subscription service, and it does have guaranteed access. Wi-Fi to me is like the world’s greatest lead generator for our Road Runner Mobile service. People find out, “Darn, I’m at a Starbucks and they want to charge me for a 10-minute session.”

MCN: To what extent is the WiMax service a retention tool, versus a revenue opportunity? Or is it both?
MR: I think it’s both. I can’t give you a statistic on retention, because it’s so new in the market, but we absolutely believe that the more services we bundle and the more utility we provide, the better it is. It also has offensive value, if you will, where it will bring new customers to our bundles. Our prel iminary numbers are suggesting that 20% of the time, when they call to order Road Runner Mobile, they’re also adding another RGU [revenue- generating unit] — a digital video upgrade, digital phone or upgrading to a higher-speed data product.

MCN: Don’t you need to provide a wireless voice service to truly be competitive with the likes of AT&T and Verizon Wireless?
MR: I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. Our focus has simply been on the launch of our mobile broadband product — don’t read into that that we’re not thinking about voice. One of the great things about the Clearwire WiMax network is, just like we do voice over our [wireline] broadband, over time we will be able to do voice basically as a VoIP [voice over Internet Protocol] application. That is something we have our eyes on. We just have chosen not to lead with voice, because mobile broadband is a more immediate opportunity for us because it is such a natural extension of the wireline Road Runner product.

MCN: Sprint just announced a dual-function WiMax/3G phone device.
MR: Yes, Sprint just announced one. We are not, on our side, testing any handset devices.

MCN: How does mobile intersect with TV Everywhere?
MR: The whole idea of having high-speed broadband access outside the home lends itself to the very nature of TV Everywhere. Our customers are seeing 3 to 6 Megabits with Clearwire. Th at’s enough speed that you can get good access to video content. As we integrate that with our strategies, whether that’s TV Everywhere or something else, they go hand in hand.

MCN: Clearwire retails its own product for inhome broadband. The service obviously will get some cable broadband customers to switch. How big a concern is that?
MR: Look, I don’t think it’s a concern. They absolutely sell a home broadband product. In its most literal sense it’s competitive. But honestly ... the world is becoming more complicated. The people you compete with in one area are partners in another part of the business. Our competitors for Time Warner Cable are who they are. And we believe we offer a truly differentiated service.