Fast-growing cable company WideOpenWest will enter the cellphone business this year, according to chief executive Colleen Abdoulah.
Denver-based WOW, as it is known, is scheduled to complete an $800 million sale to Avista Capital Partners in April.
WOW sells video, high-speed Internet and phone packages to customers in Midwestern metro areas such as Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland, a sales strategy called the “triple play” in the telecommunications world.
“How do we take the ‘triple play’ and see if there are synergies from the wireless products out there?” Abdoulah asked. “We’re looking at that, as most people in the industry are.”
She said taking the company public also is an option the new owners could pursue.
“The asset they’re buying is the ability to take on new products and new technologies without major upgrades,” Abdoulah said.
Avista partner David Burg stahler declined to talk specifically about the company’s strategy.
WOW has 357,000 subscribers on its network, which passes by about 1.4 million homes.
It bought about 310,000 customers from SBC Communications (now AT&T Inc.) in 2001, according to industry trade publication Multichannel News.
At the $800 million price, Avista paid more than $2,000 per subscriber for WOW, said Tom Semptimphelter, managing general partner of Rapid, a small private cable-television company.
Avista is probably looking for quick ways to recoup its cost, Semptimphelter said, making a public offering tempting.
The challenge for WOW in the next few months will be to write a business plan that differentiates it from RCN, another high-flying cable company that went bankrupt after going public, said Phil Weiser, a telecommunications analyst in Boulder.
Since WOW bought its properties and infrastructure from other companies, and RCN had to build from scratch, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, Weiser said.
“It’s a very capital-intensive business, so finding deep pockets, public markets or any form of substantial equity or debt is critical,” Weiser said.
WOW has more than 900 employees, including about 230 at a call center in Colorado Springs.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
