The days of Oceanic Time Warner's near monopoly on Hawaii's TV may be numbered as it will soon face a new competitor in Hawaiian Telcom, which just received a cable TV license.
Last Friday, Hawaiian Telcom was granted a 15-year cable franchise by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. In March, it announced it was pursuing a video franchise in Oahu with the state's Cable TV division.
With plans to offer video services likely over a Fiber to the Node (FTTN) network infrastructure that will leverage its existing copper infrastructure in the last 1,000-3,000 feet to the home, Hawaiian Telcom will be able to offer its customers a triple play voice, video and data bundle in the Oahu region of Hawaii.
Oceanic has been the dominant video provider since the mid-70s and like other cable operators began offering broadband Internet in 1997 and then phone service in 2005.
Although Hawaiian Telcom's IPTV service will be relegated initially to the Oahu market, one thing it has that Oceanic does not have is wireless. Having a wireless service means that Hawaiian Telcom customers would potentially be able to purchase a quad-play bundle of voice, video, data and wireless one bill.
While Hawaiian Telcom has been also offering broadband data since 1998, its efforts to get into the TV business were derailed when it filed for bankruptcy in 2006. When Hawaiian Telcom reemerged as a restructured company in 2010 it had set a goal on growing new business and residential services like IPTV that would be carried on its ever-growing fiber network.
Ann Nishida Fry, a spokeswoman for Hawaiian Telcom, said they "will have more details to share about our plans in the next several weeks."
For more:
- Honolulu Star Advertiser has this article
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