VZW Kicks Off Cox Cross-Selling

Verizon Wireless today kicked off cross-selling in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., with a third cable partner from its AWS deal, Cox Communications. The arrangement allows customers to purchase Verizon smartphones and tablets at Cox stores. Likewise, Cox video, Internet and voice services are being sold at Verizon stores. "We've made it easy to experience the entertainment and communications services of Cox with the country's fastest wireless network of Verizon Wireless," said Percy Kirk, Cox senior vice president and general manager for Oklahoma, in a statement. The companies are offering customers who sign up for service bundles prepaid cards ranging from $100 to $400. The marketing arrangement between the two companies was forged last year at the same time Cox agreed to sell its AWS spectrum to Verizon. Verizon also signed similar cross-selling deals with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and BrightHouse Networks when it purchased their AWS spectrum. The four cable operators were once part of a group called SpectrumCo formed to purchase AWS licenses during the FCC's 2006 auction. Verizon already has begun offering products from Comcast and Time Warner Cable in some markets, leaving BrightHouse Networks as the sole remaining operator in the AWS deal that hasn't moved forward with cross-selling. The agreement to sell each other's products and services received considerable scrutiny during a Senate hearing earlier this spring, when lawmakers questioned whether it amounted to a non-compete agreement between Verizon and the cable companies. The AWS transaction is still being reviewed by the FCC, which has questioned Verizon over the cross-selling deals but appears to lack jurisdiction over the arrangements. Cox had originally split from the other three operators in SpectrumCo to build its own wireless network, but eventually scrapped the plan to use its own spectrum in favor of an MVNO deal with Sprint. That strategy also failed and Cox stopped offering its wireless service. Its agreement last December to sell its spectrum to Verizon opened another path for it to pursue its wireless ambitions through a cross-selling arrangement.