Verizon buys Cox wireless spectrum for $315M

Verizon Wireless is scooping up more wireless spectrum from another cable provider.

On Friday, Cox Communications said it will sell Verizon Wireless its 20MHz slice of wireless spectrum for $315 million. As part of the deal, Verizon and Cox will resell each others residential and commercial services. The deal is similar in scope to one Verizon announced a couple of weeks ago with a consortium of cable operators called Spectrum Co., which includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks.

And like the deal with the Spectrum Co. cable companies Cox will have the option in the future to resell Verizon Wireless service under its own brand. Cox will also join in the innovation technology joint venture that Verizon said it will establish with the Spectrum Co. cable operators.

Cox obtained its 20 MHz of Advanced Wireless Spectrum as one of the original Spectrum Co. partners. But after the auction, the company left the consortium and had planned to build its own wireless network. The company struck a deal with Sprint Nextel and began reselling wireless phone service in 2010.

Earlier this year, the company abandoned its plans to build its own wireless network and it in November it said it would stop selling the Cox branded wireless service that used Sprint's network.

In a statement, Cox President Pat Esser said the agreement with Verizon will provide Cox customers with access to a mobile network.

"These agreements provide Cox customers with key enablers to mobility, such as access to Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network and iconic wireless devices," Esser said in a statement. "We look forward to the many benefits this will bring to customers."