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Charter CEO says mobile business poised for acceleration

A year after launching Spectrum Mobile across all of its markets, Charter Communications Inc. is encouraged by its prospects.

Charter Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge told investors at a Sept. 17 investor conference that he is excited by what mobility can bring to its core connectivity business.

"We don't look at mobility as an end in itself," he said. "It's an attribute of our broadband connection relationship with the customer."

Since essentially every consumer has a mobile device, Charter has been working toward "fully integrating mobile into essentially everything we do," he said.

Adding 208,000 mobile lines in the second quarter, Charter served 518,000 mobile lines as of June 30. That number is going to accelerate, according to Rutledge, as the company is still in early stages with the product.

The service leverages the cable company's network of Wi-Fi hotspots and a mobile virtual network operator agreement with Verizon Communications Inc. As such, any mobile usage that occurs off the Wi-Fi network leads to payments to the telco. At the conference, Rutledge said Charter could be very successful with mobility under the current structure, but that does not mean "we wouldn't do other MVNOs if there's opportunity to do them."

Rutledge said that also does not mean Charter would forgo building its own network, if it makes economic sense. Questions remain, though, about how quickly that network could be rolled out and at what costs.

"Right now, the MVNO is a good relationship for us," said Rutledge.