Cox's commercial unit wins new business, competitors undaunted

October 20, 2003
Wichita Business Journal
By Jery Siebenmark

http://wichita.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2003/10/20/story4.html?page=1 for full story and artwork

Officials from the Internet, data and telephony unit of the state's largest cable provider say they are gaining more business from local companies, which has prompted an increase in sales and support staff at Cox Business Kansas and Cox Communications Kansas.

Cox officials say the company and its CBS unit have added 165 sales and support staff in the past year, in part from growth of its commercial telephone, Internet and data services.

Competitors say they are taking steps to increase their competition with Cox and that those steps are working.

CBS has recently added some work from large new commercial clients, including Boeing Co., Intrust Bank, Protection One, Newman University and Sedgwick County, which is helping to further that growth, says Scott Petre, CBS' vice president and general manager for Kansas.

"It's really exceeding my expectations," Petre says.

Helping to increase CBS businesses is Cox's investment in its fiber optic network, which the company says has totaled more than $250 million since 1996, and the addition of new technology services that allows it to bundle telecommunications services for customers on one bill.

Some of CBS' newest customers say a local fiber network and pricing were primary reasons for their move to CBS.

"Basically it came down to customer service and cost," says Newman University spokeswoman Kasey Baker. "The savings compelled us to make the switch."

Big savings
Baker says Newman expects to save "several hundreds of dollars" a month by switching to CBS for Internet and telephone services. She declined to name the company that Newman will be switching from when CBS takes over the private university's telecommunications services next month.

While Cox may be winning business for commercial clients such as Newman, competitors say they are taking steps to lower prices, offer additional services and bundle them for commercial clients.

"That's how we feel we'll be competitive in the market and, again, how we face our competition," says Brian Kruse, a spokesman for SBC Kansas, one of the state's and city's largest telecommunications providers.

Petre says many technologies the company uses on its fiber optic network have helped CBS' business.

For example, CBS' hybrid fiber/coax network can convert fiber optic lightwaves into radio frequency signals for transmission over coaxial cable.

Cox officials say the ability to use coaxial cable reduces its costs and the customers costs from having to install a fiber optic cable into the business. The HFC technology allows CBS to provide similar capacity to fiber optic while still providing a single connection offering up to 24 telephone lines as well as high speed data and Internet services.

David Driver, manager of network services for Boeing Wichita, says Cox's network and services met the airplane maker's requirements for high-speed Internet connectivity. That and cost led Boeing to go with Cox to provide some Internet services, although Boeing does business with other data, Internet and telephone service providers.

"The cost and terms of agreements we reached with Cox Communications we see as very beneficial to the Boeing Co.," Driver says.

Another key to winning new business, Cox officials say, is bundling of services. With the addition of telephone service in March, CBS can bill business customers for all its services on one statement, which Terry Bieberly, CBS' commercial sales manager, says has helped the company win new business accounts.