Comcast reportedly is looking at a Wi-Fi-first approach to mobile service, hopefully supplementing Wi-Fi access with wholesale mobile capacity, an approach used by Republic Wireless, among others.
There are two major elements to any such business plan -- revenue and cost -- that such an approach might affect in a fundamental way. Of those two drivers, cost is likely the crucial dimension.
Obviously, reliance on Wi-Fi for a significant portion of connectivity should reduce the amount of wholesale access Comcast would have to purchase from a wholesale connectivity provider.
And some might speculate that Comcast is among a handful of U.S. cable companies able to buy wholesale access from Verizon Wireless at favored rates, something that was part of the decision by Comcast and several other U.S. cable companies to sell spectrum to Verizon Wireless.
SpectrumCo, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, sold Verizon Wireless 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses covering 259 million POPs for $3.6 billion. Comcast owned 63.6 percent of SpectrumCo.
The deal also allows the cable companies to sell Verizon Wireless products on an agency basis, and allows Verizon to sell cable services on a similar basis.
The key elements likely are provisions that allow the cable companies eventual access to Verizon Wireless service on a wholesale and presumably cost-advantaged basis, compared to a standard mobile virtual network operator deal.
It isn’t clear when, or if, Comcast or some of the other former SpectrumCo owners might actually private-label Verizon Wireless service.
But Comcast has said the deal cements its strategy for mobility. "These agreements, together with our Wi-Fi plans, enable us to execute a comprehensive, long-term wireless strategy," said Neil Smit, Comcast's president of cable operations, at the time of the deal.
Since about June of 2013, Comcast has been adding a Fon-style “public access” element to its consumer Wi-Fi gateways and routers, allowing Comcast to create a huge public Wi-Fi footprint, in conjunction with public Wi-Fi roaming agreements Comcast has with other leading U.S. cable operators.
Some might speculate the news actually is part of Comcast’s campaign to gain approval for its purchase of Time Warner Cable, more than an imminent effort to launch such a service. The leaked news likely is both deal bait and further confirmation of a strategy.
Edited by
Rory J. Thompson 
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