ATLANTA, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox Communications today announced milestone achievements in its evolution as a world-class provider of communications and entertainment services. In a challenging economy and increasingly competitive marketplaces, Cox continued to grow both residential and commercial customers and to diversify its portfolio by enticing more consumers to select Cox as their trusted provider of telephone and Internet services. By the close of 2008, the company surpassed three million access lines for telephone services and four million subscriptions for high speed Internet services.

President Pat Esser lauded employees for their competitive performance in the tough economy, "It is extremely gratifying to end 2008 with the achievement of these customer milestones. When we innovated the bundle of video, telephone and Internet services, we had a competitive, entrepreneurial spirit and a vision for how our single-service cable TV company might evolve to the world class broadband communications company we are today. Our excellence in winning both residential and commercial telephone and Internet customers in direct competition with one hundred year-old incumbents places us in enviable positions in our markets and endows us with deep, high-quality customer relationships that will power our ongoing success as we add wireless to our portfolio."

In October, Cox announced plans to build a wireless network using the AWS and 700 MHz wireless spectrum it won at public auction and its intent to launch wireless services in 2009 with its partner Sprint. While building the network infrastructure, office systems, human resources and competitive marketing plans for launching its new converged and mobile services, Cox continues superior execution with its award-wining three-product bundle.

Cox continued to add residential customers in 2008 and deepened its customer relationships by increasing bundled subscriptions. At the close of the year, just under two-thirds of Cox's customers were in a bundled relationship and over a third were subscribing to all three services. In year-over-year comparison, the company increased subscribers to each of its digital services -- Cox Digital Cable, Cox High Speed Internet and Cox Digital Telephone.

Commercial services through Cox Business remained a key component of growth in 2008. Cox offers compelling alternatives for business-grade voice, data and video services for companies with operations in Cox's markets. In 2008, Cox Business grew customers by 19 percent and revenues by 16 percent; the company will realize $1 billion in revenue from Cox Business in 2010. "Small businesses, often neglected by traditional carriers, have welcomed Cox for the attention and high-quality customer care we deliver," said Phil Meeks, vice president, Cox Business. "Regionally-concentrated organizations such as education, health care, finance and government services are a natural fit for Cox's robust local networks. Our industry-leading deployments of Ethernet and hosted IP voice solutions provide additional capabilities and cost efficiencies for businesses, while driving aggressive new subscriber growth."

"It's amazing to see how far our company has come," said Esser. "Today, our company's portfolio is highly diversified between video, voice and data services. As we eagerly anticipate our launch of wireless services later this year, we continue to efforts to be the most trusted provider of residential and commercial communications services available in our markets."

About Cox Communications:

Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 6.2 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network. Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates the Travel Channel. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com/espanol, www.coxbusiness.com y www.coxmedia.com.

SOURCE: Cox Communications

Web site: http://www.cox.com/
http://www.coxbusiness.com/
http://www.coxmedia.com/