TWC CEO Glenn Britt says wireless broadband won’t cut into wired Internet business
By APWednesday, July 29, 2009
On the Call: TWC CEO Glenn Britt
Time Warner Cable Inc., the nation’s second largest cable TV operator, is planning to launch a high-speed wireless Internet service in the fall with Clearwire Corp. It will start with four cities, including Charlotte, N.C. and Dallas. Glenn Britt, TWC’s chief executive, discussed the issue in the company’s second-quarter conference call with analysts.
QUESTION: Do you see any risk that wireless broadband will cut into your wired Internet business? Or do you think it’s complementary?
RESPONSE: I think it’s fair to say as you talk to people around the world about the wireless business and broadband, there’s two schools of thought. One is that wireless is a completely separate business from wireline and never the twain shall meet. That’s one camp.
The other one is that they are integrally wound up with each other. … That’s the camp we are in. We see wireless as complementing wireline and having different features. Obviously it offers mobility of devices.
Nobody that I’ve talked to thinks that anytime soon wireless is going to be able to beat the wireline capacity, both in terms of speed and throughput. So we think the two will complement each other, and that’s why we’re interested in what we’re doing with Clearwire.
