Time Warner Cable today said it has entered multiyear partnerships with MCI and Sprint Corp. to provide Internet-based phone service to consumers around the country in 2004.
Sprint says it will help Time Warner Cable offer voice over IP phone service in 17 markets by providing interconnection facilities and supporting E911 management, directory assistance and operator services voicemail among other services. Sprint also says it will carry long-distance traffic for Time Warner Cable customers.
Sprint, which exhibited at last week’s cable TV show in Anaheim, Calif., says it plans to market its wholesale services to other cable companies.
MCI says its agreement calls for the No. 2 long-distance phone company to provide interconnection facilities to terminate the IP traffic to the public network. The company also says it will deliver E911 and local number portability, and manage network integration and electronic bonding of the companies’ order entry systems.
Cable companies competing aggressively with the regional Bell operating companies for residential broadband subscribers increasingly are moving into the phone business by providing VoIP – an unregulated and less expensive way to provide phone service.
