Part 3 - Interview with Kristine Faulkner, Cox Business, VP of product development

FierceTelecom: Let's talk about the network for a minute. What are the some of the major events that Cox has undertaken on its network this year? More fiber rollouts?

Faulkner:
Yes, yes and yes. We started off talking about how footprint expansion is important to us. We'll continue to be proactive in that effort. That entails building out fiber, but it is also enabled through network enhancements such as DOCSIS 3.0, which certainly has a play in business. Providing Internet access over our HFC network infrastructure is natural. Now we're leveraging our HFC to deliver PRIs, T1s and Ethernet, so when you look at DOCSIS 3.0 and its advantages bandwidth and upstream-wise, it has a play in our portfolio longer-term. As you have seen we have embarked on DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts and we'll continue along that path.  

FierceTelecom: Finally, I would imagine providing video services is a given for Cox Business?

Faulkner:
Video is a bigger opportunity than you would think. It was interesting you asked about video. IDC did an SMB bundle report. They were talking about that of SMBs that bundle, 40 percent actually have TV service. That aligns pretty well with our base, but I was surprised to see that national in scope. It's especially true in the sub-10 employee space. There's a lot of opportunity there.

We have a strong foothold in video and naturally we're focused on growing that both in the SMB segment and especially as we look at the regionally-based verticals such as health care that are very important to us. In the SMB space, we find that video is not only desired, but it's the largest stabilizer to churn. We see our customers that have video service have a lower propensity to leave us versus other customers that don't have video. Naturally, it's important to us not only because of our roots, but it has other benefits to our customers of what we serve.

In the larger customer segments, we're continuing to serve the video needs there. There's a lot going on there and naturally as the economic stimulus dollars continue to fill areas such as health care and education those are areas that are very interested in on-demand and distance learning capabilities. Then, in health care there are a lot of programs for patient education. There's a lot of opportunity for video in the vertical market segments.  

FierceTelecom: In addition to your wireline network, Cox is getting more into wireless. Do you see that having a bigger role in Cox Business?

Faulkner:
Yes. Wireless will be part of our bundle. I would add that the SMB market feels unserved in that space today.