Malone: Charter Could Create 3rd Wireless Player

Liberty Media chairman John Malone has declared his theory that the recent pairing of Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable could help create a third major wireless carrier to compete with Verizon and AT&T. Malone pointed to Time Warner Cable’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with Verizon -- part of cable consortium SpectrumCo’s sale of wireless frequencies to Verizon in 2012 for about $3.9 billion.

As part of that deal, SpectrumCo’s members -- TWC, Comcast, Bright House Networks and Cox -- received the option of participating in a wireless MVNO cellular service from Verizon. Malone noted that Charter was not part of that consortium -- it will be after the TWC deal closes -- which now becomes more important as the bulk of wireless traffic originates on the cable-dominated Wi-Fi network. “The concept that Comcast, a greatly enlarged Charter and Cox could together offer a Wi-Fi-optimized connectivity service with a default to a Verizon MVNO is an interesting concept,” Malone said at the annual meeting.