Comcast may offer mobile TV, add wireless voice

Comcast said it may offer subscribers the ability to watch TV shows on their mobile phones in the future, and also is considering adding a wireless voice component to its array of services. The moves would further entrench Comcast in the wireless space, and put it into more direct competition with AT&T and Verizon Communications. 

Comcast, which has begun reselling Clearwire's mobile WiMAX service under the brand High-Speed 2Go in several markets, said the wireless service could eventually include an On Demand Online component, which lets subscribers watch content on the Web.

"I can envision sometimes in the future (On Demand Online) having a wireless component," Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis said at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference, according to Reuters. 

Angelakis said that there had been discussions about providing voice via WiMAX, but that no decisions had been made and that it was still too early to reveal details. Time Warner Cable--a fellow Clearwire investor--will also start reselling Clearwire's mobile WiMAX service later this fall. In April, a MarketWatch report said that Time Warner was conducting mobile voice trials on Clearwire-owned spectrum, but a Time Warner spokesman declined to comment on the trials.

Comcast's possible deepening involvement in wireless carries with it with memories of Pivot, the failed joint venture among Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications. The offering included TV and voice services. After Pivot dissolved last year, Comcast and Time Warner--along with Google, Intel and Bright House Networks--invested in Clearwire. Meanwhile, Cox decided to go its own way, and later this year will launch a 3G CDMA network. 

For more:
- see this GigaOM article [1]
- see this Reuters article [2]

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