Cincinnati Bell

Cincinnati Bell, Inc.

Type	Public (NYSE: CBB)
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1873
Headquarters	Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Key people	John F. Cassidy, President & CEO
Products	Local Telephone Service, Wireless
Revenue	$1.403 Billion USD (2008)
Net income	$37.5 Million USD (2008)
Employees	2,900 (2005)
Website	www.cincinnatibell.com

Cincinnati Bell is the dominant telephone company for Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The parent company is named Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) Its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) subsidiary uses the name Cincinnati Bell Telephone Company LLC, and Cincinnati Bell Wireless provides mobile phone services. Other subsidiaries handle services such as payphones and long distance calling. Since the 2000s, Cincinnati Bell has diversified into other utilities, such as IPTV and household electricity.

History

Cincinnati Bell started out as the City and Suburban Telegraph Company and was providing telegraph lines between homes and businesses in 1873, three years before the invention of the telephone. In 1878, it gained exclusive rights to the Bell franchise within a 25-mile (40-km) radius of Cincinnati; it has substantially the same ILEC territory today: straddling a 3-state area.

Cincinnati Bell and Southern New England Telephone were the only two companies in the old Bell System that were owned independently of AT&T (AT&T held only minority interests in these two companies); therefore, neither is considered a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC). AT&T held 27.8% interest in Cincinnati Bell before 1984. In 1998, SNET was bought by SBC, an RBOC, but Cincinnati Bell has remained independent.

Cincinnati Bell logo with Bell logo, used until mid-2006

During the 1990s, Cincinnati Bell acquired a nationwide transmission network formerly known as IXC Communications and changed its corporate name to "Broadwing Communications," although the local telephone operations continued to operate under their traditional name. In the 2000s, the holding company divested the long-distance operation as Broadwing Corporation and changed its name back to Cincinnati Bell.

Cincinnati Bell is the only American company that continues to actively promote itself under the "Bell" name. As of August 2011, Cincinnati Bell has virtually ceased public usage of the last Bell logo, designed in 1969 by Saul Bass, simply opting to use a stylized, shadowed version of its corporate name on its website. The company had already removed the Bell logo from its telephone directories' covers for some time. However, it still appears on older maintenance vehicles

The newsmagazine 60 Minutes reported in 1989 that Cincinnati Bell cooperated with local police to wiretap local residents in search of alleged communist or criminal activity from 1972 to 1984.^[1] In a move widely criticized by consumer advocates, Cincinnati Bell was also the first phone company in Ohio to take advantage of a 2005 state law that lets phone companies raise rates without having to gain approval from state regulators.^{[citation needed]}

Cincinnati Bell's original headquarters, the Cincinnati and Suburban Telephone Company Building, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Telecommunications

Landline service

Cincinnati Bell provides landline PSTN local and long-distance calling. In recent years, the company has seen subscriptions to these traditional services decline due to competition from cable and wireless providers.^[2]

Wireless telephony

Former Cincinnati Bell Wireless logo used until mid-2006

Cincinnati Bell Wireless (CBW) offers GSM wireless service in southeastern Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and northwestern Kentucky.

CBW started as a joint venture with AT&T Wireless. Originally, AT&T Wireless owned 20% of CBW. When AT&T Wireless was purchased by Cingular, now known as AT&T Mobility, control of the 20% stake passed to Cingular as well. On February 17, 2006, Cincinnati Bell took full control of CBW by purchasing Cingular's 20% ownership for $83 million. As a part of the deal, Cincinnati Bell and Cingular secured lower roaming charges network on each other's respective GSM networks.^[3]

An independent research provider tested Cincinnati Bell Wireless's service in Cincinnati and Dayton and found the company to have the best wireless network in 2005 and 2006.^[4]

Cincinnati Bell Wireless ended the year 2007 with 571,000 wireless subscribers.^[5]

Internet access

Former Fuse logo

Cincinnati Bell offers Internet access to customers in its service area. Cincinnati Bell's Fuse Internet Service provides dial-up access, while its broadband access is through its ZoomTown ADSL service. ZoomTown customers still connect to the Internet through an Internet service provider. Typically, ZoomTown is used in conjunction with Cincinnati Bell's ISP, Fuse, although other local ISPs are available. ZoomTown's ADSL technology currently offers three speeds of 5 Mbit/s and 768 kbit/s downstream.^[6] ZoomTown started service in 1999. Its primary competitors for broadband Internet access are Time Warner Cable's Road Runner and Insight Communications cable Internet services in the Ohio and Kentucky markets, respectively. Cincinnati Bell also offers a service called ZoomTown Plus that bundles Internet access with news, reference, and entertainment content, provided though Synacor.^[7] Cincinnati Bell has started offering Zoomtown Internet at speeds from 5 Mbit/s up to 100 Mbit/s in conjunction with its FiOptics servies. The availability is limited to areas currently wired for FiOptics, and other FiOptics services are not required. They no longer offer speed of greater than 5 Mbit/s with only their ADSL services in areas currently covered by FiOptics.

Fiber optics

In late 2008, Cincinnati Bell started offering a fiber-optic communications (Internet, telephone, and IPTV) service called FiOptics, similar to the FiOS service offered by Verizon Communications.^[8] Cincinnati Bell is currently in the process of rolling out the new service to select communities in the Cincinnati area.^[9] FiOptics runs fiber to the home, augmented by fiber to the node.^[2]

Electricity

In 2011, Cincinnati Bell became the first telecommunications company to also provide retail energy service.^[10] Through a partnership with Viridian Energy, Cincinnati Bell Energy competes with several other alternative electricity retailers for the power generation portion of customers' electricity bills.^[2] The subsidiary advertises that its service is entirely sourced from regional wind power certified by Green-e Energy.^[11]

See also

• American Telephone & Telegraph
• Bell System
• Bell System divestiture
• Ohio Bell

References

1. ^ "Wiretapping". Congressional Record. 1989-04-18. http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1989_cr/s890418-bug.htm. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Buckley, Sean (2011-07-07). "Cincinnati Bell's new broadband and energy ventures are all about survival". FierceTelecom (FierceMarkets). http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/cincinnati-bells-new-broadband-and-energy-ventures-are-all-about-survival/2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
3. ^ AT&T Corporate Information - News Room
4. ^ Cincinnatibell.com
5. ^ "Small US Operators - Q4 2007 Results". March 11, 2008. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/29840.php?source=newsletter. 
6. ^ Cincinnati Bell Consumer Homepage
7. ^ "Cincinnati Bell Accelerates Its Zoomtown High-Speed Internet Access Service With Synacor-Built Portal And Premium Content Package" (Press release). Synacor, Inc.. January 3, 2005. http://www.synacor.com/entries/view/cincinnati_bell_accelerates_its_zoomtown_high-speed_internet_access_service_with_synacor-built_portal_and_premium_content_package. 
8. ^ Arnason, Bernie (September 29, 2009). "Cincinnati Bell Makes GPON Moves, Follows FiOS Lead". http://www.telecompetitor.com/cincinnati-bell-makes-gpon-moves-follows-fios-lead/. Retrieved November 10, 2009. 
9. ^ Matterise, John (October 30, 2009). "Cincinnati Bell Rolls out FiOptics TV". http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/localshows/dontwasteyourmoney/story/Cincinnati-Bell-Rolls-out-FiOptics-TV-Service/EruxlphQ-0KJjQiO_m5Tiw.cspx. Retrieved November 10, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "Cincinnati Bell Energy Launches Green Energy Service" (Press release). Cincinnati Bell Energy (Business Wire). 2011-07-21. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cincinnati-bell-energy-launches-green-energy-service-2011-06-21. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
11. ^ "Get Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Cincinnati Bell Energy". Cincinnati Bell. http://www.cincinnatibell.com/energy/faqs.asp. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 

External links

• Cincinnati Bell's corporate information site
• Cincinnati Bell Wireless Official website
• Cincinnati Bell Wireless coverage maps
• ZoomTown customer Web portal
• ZoomTown Customer reviews at Broadband Reports
• ZoomTown/Fuse/Cincinnati Bell ISP Class Action Lawsuit Info