Charter to expand telephone service

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Sep 01, 2004 | by Cahalan, Steve

Charter Communications Inc. is the latest cable operator to announce expanded Internet telephone service, with agreements with Sprint Corp., Level 3 Communications Inc. and Accenture Ltd.

But a company spokesman had no prediction Tuesday on whether Charter eventually will offer telephone service in the La Crosse area.

Charter provides telephone service in Janesville, Wausau, Stevens Point and Merrill, Wis., said Mike Hill, Charter government affairs and public relations manager for the area. Charter offers cable TV and Internet service in the La Crosse area.

"Charter is looking to expand its phone operations throughout the country in 2005," Hill said, a day after the St. Louis company announced it will expand its Internet telephone service. "We have not selected area markets as of yet.

"We're looking at multiple areas in Wisconsin, along with other areas of the country," Hill said.

St. Louis-based Charter is the nation's third-largest broadband service provider. It plans to have more than a million telephone customers by year's end.

Sprint already has voice-over-Internet, called VoIP, agreements with cable providers MediaCom Communications, Time Warner Cable and USA Companies.

Charter had more than 31,000 telephone customers in several markets by the end of the second quarter. In a news release, the company said it planned to launch the service in more markets through early 2005.

With VoIP, customers make calls with their regular phones, but the calls travel as packets of data over the Internet with the cable service to their home or business, as opposed to the traditional telephone line.

Time Warner Cable began the push in December for the cable industry to offer such telephone service. Since then, several other cable providers have announced plans to expand their voice offerings.