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January 2001 Issue

Pulse: Cox to Provide Broadband Services to State of Arizona
By , Senior Editor

Cox Communications is one step closer to being known as a full-service telecommunications company.

The cable operator’s commercial broadband division, Cox Business Services, was one of nine companies recently awarded a contract of up to 10 years to provide communications services to the state of Arizona and its government agencies.

"This is certainly a wonderful opportunity to showcase Cox’s talents and services," says Robert Carter, vice president of Cox Business Services in Phoenix. "A lot of people think of Cox only as a cable company."

Cox will provide high-speed services for voice, data and video to state agencies, primarily in and between Phoenix and the Tucson metropolitan service areas. In addition, Cox will create virtual private networks (VPNs) which will enable state workers to telecommute. Other services will become available as Arizona’s needs for communications technology grows.

The contract highlights Cox’s ability to meet an array of communications and Internet needs for local organizations and businesses, says Carter. The contract makes Cox one of the primary telecommunications service providers for the state of Arizona.

"This is a huge coup," Carter says.

Cox currently provides several local governments with telecommunications services, but on a much smaller scale, says Carter.

The state of Arizona decided to launch competitive bids to meet its telecommunications needs because it was not able to keep up with the broadband demands of its agencies, particularly in rural areas.

"We have a lot of small towns of 500 people or less who don’t have a lot of broadband telecommunications in those areas," says Art Ranney, director of Arizona’s Government Information Technology Agency (GITA). "It really handicaps them from an economic standpoint. We’re trying to build out a (telecommunications) infrastructure."

The contracts initially will allow the state to connect all its schools, libraries and prisons.

"We have a huge telemedicine department," says Ranney. "If we have the broad bandwidth, then we’re able to send video."

The state has $100 million allocated over a five-year period to meet its telecommunications needs. It hopes eventually to build out to 86 cities.

The service contracts, details of which are still being ironed out, can be awarded for up to 10 years. Other companies awarded contracts include AT&T, Qwest, MCI WorldCom, and Sprint. Each brings its own unique services to the state, Ranney says.

Ranney maintains the setup is a win-win situation for both the state and participating companies. Arizona is able to establish a telecommunications infrastructure, while companies can access to markets and assistance from the state when necessary.

Arizona is not the first state to enter into similar relationships with private companies. Maryland, Kansas and Washington have all launched public-private partnerships to meet their telecommunications needs.

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