Cox $105M Revamp Nears Completion

Cox Communications Inc. plans to have the $104.7 million renovation of its 4,000-mile cable system in Northwest Arkansas completed before the end of the year. Cox has spent $97.7 million since 2000 to renovate its underground cable system from Fort Smith north to the Missouri state line.

James Anderson, director of public and governmental affairs for Cox in Northwest Arkansas, said the new cable will increase bandwidth to more than 750 megahertz and provide high-tech offerings such as video on demand and eventually high-definition television.

Cox, a public company based in Atlanta, has already spent $23.5 million to renovate the cable system in Fort Smith and $25 million to install about 1,000 miles of new cable in the Fayetteville area. Anderson said Cox spent about $25 million in the past three years to provide cable service to areas that didn’t have it before.

Yet to be completed is about $3 million worth of work in Bentonville and $4 million in Rogers.