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MSO Consortium Mobile Phone Services

Multichannel News reports that listening to voice mail on a TV � or reading e-mail on a cell phone. Programming a digital recorder from that cell phone. Finding a lost child. These are some of the services that the consortium of Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications and Sprint Nextel Corp are working on to try and distinguish their coming wireless phone services from those already in the marketplace, from Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless or other existing competitors.

Integrated voice-mail and e-mail, video programming and the ability to program a digital video recorder using a cell phone all are examples of the kind of �converged� services that use features from both cable and wireless networks � and that should be available later this year, according to John Garcia, president of the joint venture formed late last year by Sprint Nextel Corp and the four cable companies.

�We�ll focus the effort to innovate in places where the wireless and wireline networks intersect,� Garcia said. �It will be converged services, converged content and converged applications.� Sprint and the cable companies in the joint venture would not comment on how these services would work, saying those details are under development.

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