Time Warner, Sprint close to mobile pact

Time Warner Cable is close to a deal with Sprint Corp. to offer mobile telephone service under the TimeWarner brand to the cabler's 11 million subscribers, according to a report in Wednesday's The Wall Street Journal.

If such a deal is struck, Time Warner will be the first cable company to offer the so-called "quadruple threat" in telecommunications, by offering voice, video, internet and mobile services in a single package.

The Journal reported that Time Warner would test market the new mobile service in Kansas City before the end of March.

Any such deal could strengthen Time Warner's plans to expand its entry into the telephony market. The company said it expects to have 200 thousand voice customers when it closes its 2004 books Friday. As of mid-December, the company said it was adding about 10 thousand new wired voice customers per week.

For voice customers Time Warner is competing with regional telephone monopolies Verizon, SBC and BellSouth, which among them control the two largest mobile networks in the United States: Verizon and Cingular.