John A. Garcia, senior vice president of Strategic Partners for Sprint Consumer Solutions, has been named president of the nationwide joint venture being launched by Sprint Nextel and its cable partners.
Garcia, who assumes the position immediately and will be located in Overland Park, Kan., will focus on delivering the convergence of video entertainment, wireline and wireless data and communications products and services to the approximately 41 million customers currently served by four of the country's largest cable companies as well as to Sprint's nearly 46 million wireless subscribers. The venture has the potential to serve approximately 75 million homes currently passed by the cable companies. Garcia will report to a six-member governance council - three from Sprint and one each from Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox. The remainder of employees for the joint venture will be named in the next few months and will include positions in marketing, product, operations, program management, finance, strategy and other areas.
Garcia was one of the earliest employees hired into Sprint's Wireless group in 1995. In his first role as vice president of Marketing, he managed many of the initial marketing and sales strategies used to launch Sprint PCS into the marketplace.
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- In November 2005, Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications outlined their plans to form a joint venture to offer "Quadruple Play" services -- video entertainment, wireline voice, and wireless voice and high-speed data services. The joint venture, which is mutually exclusive for three years and has a 20-year term, calls for a combined initial financial commitment of $200 million, $100 million of which will be committed by Sprint and $100 million of which will be committed collectively by the cable companies. The investment is expected to be used to fund the development of the converged services, national marketing initiatives and back office integration.
