Jim Robbins is shaking up the status quo once more before he retires from the helm of Atlanta-based Cox Communications at year's end. He is pursuing an industrywide wireless alliance to transport cable's bundled services outside the home and placing retransmission reform back on the Washington agenda. "The one thing I want to accomplish before I retire, if I can, is a wireless deal for the industry," Robbins said in an interview. Even without an industry consensus, Cox will partner with at least one larger cable operator, most likely Time Warner, to give a wireless provider the largest cable footprint possible to make cable's service triple-play portable. Although Cox has chipped away at wireless for nearly a decade, beginning with an early Sprint PCS deal, the cable industry has been caught off guard recently by the rapid prominence and power of wireless adoption. Telephone companies have moved swiftly to offer a voice and data bundle to which they are now adding video on both wireless and wire line platforms. The absence of a wireless strategy outside the home will challenge the cable industry's future growth, Robbins says. Cable could find itself competitively disadvantaged at a time when every subscriber counts.
Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) – comprising digital wallets, instant payments, and QR payment systems – are experiencing explosive growth that's reshaping the global financial services marketplace. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research , the combined global transaction value for APMs is projected to reach $142 trillion by 2030. What's particularly fascinating is the underlying driver behind this trend: a growing desire for financial sovereignty, with nations developing domestic payment ecosystems rather than remaining dependent on international financial networks. Payment Ecosystem Market Development In 2024, approximately 45 percent of the global population used digital wallets – a remarkable adoption rate for a technology that barely existed a decade ago. China leads this transition, with 95 percent of its population using WeChat's payment functionality. WeChat exemplifies the "super app" phenomenon, where payment capabilities are in...