Cox Communications Customers in Salina, Kan., To Get Telephone Service
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 21:00 CST
By Tim Unruh, The Salina Journal, Kan.
Dec. 22--Beginning in January, anyone with broadband Internet service through Cox Communications in Salina can add home telephone service through Cox.
The cable television provider is advertising the Internet-based service for $10.95 a month when it's combined with television and high-speed Internet services. By itself, Cox Internet phone service is $15.95 a month.
It offers "great cost savings" to consumers, said Sarah Kauffman, a Cox spokeswoman from Wichita.
Don Brown, spokesman for AT&T Kansas, Topeka, doesn't dispute that.
He also questions the fairness of an unregulated company being allowed to drive down the price.
AT&T Kansas, formerly SBC, is bound by the Kansas Corporation Commission rules. Cox is not.
"The competition that is out there in Kansas communities does not face pricing oversight or regulation from the KCC," Brown said. "If Brand 'X' establishes local phone service in Salina today, they can set a lower price than us. All they have to do is post that price and it's in effect."
To respond to Cox's pricing, Brown said, AT&T Kansas would have to apply to the Corporation Commission, which requires a 21-day review and a possible 30-day extension.
"We can't react for 51 days, and we're at the mercy of the regulators," he said.
AT&T Kansas' standard line rate is $15.70 a month.
AT&T Kansas plans to lobby state lawmakers for reforms, similar to what have happened in Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa.
"In markets where there is obvious competition, where competitors with regulations are participating in market pricing," Brown said, "we would like to do the same."
In the meantime, he said, AT&T Kansas is becoming more competitive with products that are not subject to Corporation Commission rules, such as high-speed Internet service.
Cox's Kauffman said there has been a "great response" to the home telephone service. A bundle of high-speed Internet, a basic cable service and home telephone service will cost $70.85 a month. After three months, that price will jump to $79.05, Kauffman said.
With that, she said, the customer is offered long distance service for 5 cents a minute.
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Copyright (c) 2005, The Salina Journal, Kan.
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COX, T,
Source: The Salina Journal
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