Now cable companies of all sizes have an opportunity to offer wireless as part of their internet and TV services. The National Content & Technology Cooperative, formerly named the National Cable Television Cooperative, has selected AT&T as the mobile network provider for NCTC’s MVNO service, Next TV reported.
NCTC will offer its nearly 700 members, mainly small regional cable operators, a customizable white-labeled mobile service platform that utilizes the AT&T network. The association points out that the platform offers “a full broadband digitization suite, including modules for billing, service provisioning, customer self-service, agent interfaces and more.”
This agreement will give the smaller cablecos a previously unavailable opportunity to bundle a wireless component with their internet and TV services. The largest cable companies, Comcast and Charter Communications, have operated as MVNOs on the Verizon network for several years. Each company reported over 5 million mobile customers at year-end 2022.
The NCTC MVNO service will be carried over AT&T’s 4G LTE and 5G networks. Quality One, a provider of backend services for Tier 1 and 2 MVNOs, including Mint Mobile which was recently acquired by T-Mobile, will handle the mobile handsets. NCTC also has an agreement with Reach Mobile that provides “turnkey solutions,” including ready-made apps stores, to its mobile program.
An enthusiastic group of around 50 of its member companies was instrumental in driving the mobile initiative, according to the association. It expects the first NCTC member-backed services based on the AT&T MVNO to launch in June.
NCTC says the MVNO arrangement has the potential to reach 22 million landline broadband customers that are currently served by its member cablecos. As such, it expects a high level of mobile sign ups among its cableco members that it says “underpins the service’s favorable economics” that the MVNO agreement offers.
Based on the support for the MVNO deal from the core group of 50 or so cablecos, the association estimates that total broadband homes reached by participating members at launch likely will exceed the 5.6 million broadband homes served by Cox Communications, Next TV reported. Cox, America’s third biggest cable operator, launched its own MVNO in January.
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