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Big Growth Spurt In a Small Region

Rhode Island is a little state with a big reputation. Unfortunately, that rep is for government corruption. The misuse of public funds ran rampant at the state's highest levels in the 1980s, a decade in which Mayor Brian Sarault of Pawtucket was also convicted of soliciting bribes from city contractors. The '90s ushered in a host of other scandals, not the least of which was the indictment on bribery charges of former Gov. Edward DiPrete.

These events precipitated unprecedented reforms in Rhode Island's government, but even that didn't guard against further corruption. In September, former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci was sentenced to five years on racketeering conspiracy charges in connection with a City Hall bribery scheme; the flamboyant pol reported to a New Jersey federal prison in December.

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David Cicilline, the new mayor of the state's capital and largest city, will have to continue the revitalization of Providence that began under Cianci.

Known as the cradle of the industrial revolution, Rhode Island, with its 400-plus miles of coastline, was once a manufacturing and textile state. But those industries declined steadily after World War II, virtually disappearing in recent decades. In an effort to boost the state's economy, government officials have lured new industries and are counting on services, health care, tourism and technology as future economic drivers.

In that respect, Cox New England, which serves virtually all of Rhode Island (population around 1 million) fits right in. "The New England area has gone through some tough times," says Paul Cronin, who was named VP and GM of Cox New England in 2002.

But Cox is part of a technology revolution that's rejuvenating cities, such as Providence, he notes.

Jim Robbins, president of Cox Communications, played up Cox's $435 million investment in upgrading Rhode Island's cable plant to full fiber-optic capability in a November speech before the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

"Rhode Island is the most broadband-ready state in the nation, and one of the few places that has a broadband network that extends statewide," he said. "The percentage of Americans who have access to broadband technology nationally is about 70%. Here in Rhode Island, it's nearly 100% accessible." That investment is helping attract businesses to the state, he added.

Cronin, who spent two years as the system's VP of customer care, touts Cox's commitment to customer service. "We invest in it," he says. "It's near and dear to us."

Having spent years at Amos Hostetter's Continental Cablevision, Cronin says that "localism," a focus on employees and regional autonomy in operations were philosophies that were firmly embedded in him during his years at Continental. "We spend a lot of money differentiating ourselves," he says.

Cox New England employs about 1,500 and is building a new $10 million call center in West Warwick that will need an additional 200 employees. As the third-largest division in the Cox cable family, New England is an important system. Although Cronin won't disclose subscriber numbers for cable modems and telephony, marketing VP Doreen Studley says the system is at or above the Cox average for those products. Cox ended the third quarter with 1.7 million digital customers, representing digital penetration of about 27%. The company's telephony subscribers reached 651,000, for a penetration rate of 17% of telephony-ready homes, and its cable-modem subscriber base climbed to 1.3 million, for 13% penetration.

The system itself has grown tremendously - from 100,000 customers in 1994 (60,000 in a J-shaped area outlying Hartford, Conn., and 40,000 in Rhode Island), to about 450,000 today, 300,000 of which are in Rhode Island.

It wasn't always so. In the period of 1989 to 1990, Cox served just three towns in Rhode Island. A spurt of acquisitions and systems swaps led to its current size. In the past six years, virtually the entire plant - over 7,600 miles - has been upgraded. Rhode Island's small size (at just 50 miles from west to east it is the nation's smallest state) eased the strain of explosive growth.

"From a geographic standpoint it's pretty condensed," Cronin says, "an operating area less than the size of Phoenix."

Consolidated back-office operations and network connectivity have helped as well. Another plus for Cox is that people in the area tend to stay put - 58% of Rhode Island's population lived in the same location as in 1995, according to Census 2000. That means lower move-related churn.

With the system upgraded to 750 MHz two-way active, it can offer the Cox bundle of video, data and telephony. The latest product introduction was home networking, with a promotional price of $199 for a wired solution and $299 for a wireless network, plus monthly maintenance.

One of the biggest challenges in completing the upgrade, which was finished about a year ago, was continual access to labor and materials

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Big Growth Spurt In a Small Region

Cable World, Jan 20, 2003

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