Cable operators’ landline VoIP offerings have been very successful, but they’ve been unable to replicate that success when it comes to mobile phone service, notes Fortune. Their attempts to make inroads into phone services are being met by telcos’ forays into video, as companies from both sides attempt to capture the elusive quadruple play of services. The question facing cable operators is whether they can offer sufficient value and attractive enough mobile products to entice customers away from standalone mobile operators; given the lack of success of Pivot, several cable companies’ joint venture with Sprint (NYSE: S), the answer appears to be no. The attraction of a single bill—one of the much-touted benefits of bundled services—doesn’t appear to be particularly strong for mobile services, while services that integrate cable and mobile (such as remote DVR scheduling, for instance) have been slow to emerge.

SEE ALSO: Sprint Pulls Out Of Wireless Spectrum JV With Cable Operators

Cox has said it intends to bid in January’s 700 Mhz spectrum auction, while Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable have said they’ll pass. Those three companies, along with Brighthouse, are partners in SpectrumCo, which spent $2.37 billion on licenses in last year’s AWS auction. Sprint had been a part of SpectrumCo as well, but left the JV earlier this year. Even with that spectrum, and anything Cox acquires, the cable operators’ strategy for mobile remains unclear, and the Fortune article notes that it’s not even clear if the companies really want to be in this market. However, their desire to offer integrated services could dictate that they build their own networks, rather than try to rely on joint ventures with mobile operators, since, like Pivot, they tend to be dominated by battles over who “owns” the customer.