Verizon Wireless and Time Warner Cable teamed up Thursday, launching a combined "quad-play" package in southwest Ohio.
Customers in Southwest Ohio, including Springfield, can now purchase packages of Time Warner Cable video, Internet and voice services, as well as Verizon Wireless smartphones and tablets from both companies. Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Kansas City, Kan.; and Raleigh, N.C. will also be served by the partnership.
New and existing customers who sign up for the agreement will be eligible for up to $200 in gift cards, the companies said. Time Warner Cable's Ultimate Internet and SignatureHome are also available to be packaged with a Verizon Wireless offer, they said.
The combination appears to be the first to take advantage of the $3.6 billion spectrum purchase Verizon agreed to in Dec. 2011. As part of that deal, Verizon Wireless agreed to purchase 122 Advanced Wireless Systems (AWS) spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, LLC, a joint effort from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks.
The deal also called for the cable companies and Verizon to resell each other's services. Some expected Comcast and Verizon to negotiate the first partnership, especially after Comcast executives talked up the advantages the partnership would bring. Typically, a cable provider like TWC or Comcast has only been able to launch "triple play" packages of landline voice (VOIP) calls, broadband Internet, and television services.
Opponents in industry and government have lined up to block the deal from being approved by the FCC. In March, Verizon defended its plan before a Senate Judiciary committee, but opponents painted the agreement as anti-competitive and an ideal way for the firms to dominate their industries.
But some analysts wonder if the once divergent worlds of wired and wireless communication are in fact colliding, enough that normal competitive tensions will serve in place of regulation. Jim Barthold, an analyst at NPD, noted that Comcast has talked about enabling SMS text messaging on various devices without charging customer fees. Likewise, Verizon Wireless has talked up video services.
"In short, despite the regulatory eyebrows that the Comcast-Verizon Wireless joint venture would be expected to raise, the realities of competition and consumer expectations would provide at least some level of powerful checks," Barthold wrote. "While there continues to be fundamental differences between the economics of wireline and wireless businesses, the multimedia capabilities of IP have forever bridged the safe distance companies such as Verizon and Comcast."
For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman.
