But it’s unclear exactly what the opportunity is. The last time a major cable operator owned or operated a mobile-phone network was a decade ago when Comcast sold its cellular operations to SBC Communications. To some analysts, it doesn’t make economic sense for a cable company to jump into the wireless business, especially the way Cox is going about it, according to a story in MultiChannelNews about Cox’s wireless launch.

Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Craig Moffett said he’s skeptical that any cable customer relationships are strong enough to be the primary bridge to a wireless offering. Leichtman Research Group president Bruce Leichtman added that wireless continues to be “a question mark” for cable, and “It’s not clear cable needs this fourth element of the bundle to compete [with telcos].”

The difference between Cox’s strategy and the other cable operators, which are working with Clearwire, is the size of the bet. Moffett said Clearwire gives the operators the ability to offer a discounted wireless broadband service that “may never earn an interesting return on investment,” while Sprint and Clearwire foot most of the bill. Comcast has invested $1.05 billion, while Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) put in $550 million and Bright House’s piece was $100 million. Meanwhile, Cox is paying in excess of $1 billion for the network, ranging from the cell phone towers to spectrum bought at a government auction.

Cox maintains that it’s critical to control the customer experience from top to bottom, and that it’s also important to offer voice services—not just wireless broadband. That’s because that’s where the bulk of the customers are today.