Time Warner Cable spends $15M to build WiFi network in Southern Calif.

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) said Friday it's spending $15 million to build a WiFi network in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., marking its biggest rollout yet of the technology.

BelAir Networks is providing the equipment for TWC's L.A. WiFi hotspot rollout. Above: A strand-mounted 802.11n Wi-Fi access point in Venice Beach. (Credit: Adam Larkey)

The WiFi launch in L.A. is significant since the MSO will not only offer free access to WiFi hotpots to existing high-speed Internet subscribers, but it will allow non-subscribers to access the service for a fee. Web surfers who don't subscribe to its cable modem service will be able to access the network for $2.95 per hour, $6.95 per day, $19.95 weekly or $49.95 for a monthly plan.

Time Warner Cable markets WiFi to subscribers in the northeast through a deal it has with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to share the cost of building WiFi hotspots, but that service isn't available to non-subscribers. Canadian WiFi hardware and software vendor BelAir Networks, which supplies the gear for its WiFi hotspots in the northeast, is also supplying technology for the wireless access points the MSO is building in Southern California, Time Warner Cable spokesman Justin Venech told FierceCable.

The WiFi rollout could help Time Warner compete against rivals DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which don't offer free WiFi access to their customers. Having a broad WiFi network could also help the MSO market its high-speed Internet service to new customers, as mobile users searching for a WiFi network will see "TWCWiFi" networks on wireless devices in areas where the service is available.

Time Warner Cable said its WiFi network will reach an area of more than 40 square miles in Southern California, including areas in Venice Beach, West Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Newport Beach and other cities within Orange County.

For more:
- see news release
- The Los Angeles Times has this report

Related articles:
Cablevision rolls out interactive WiFi channel
Shaw bets on WiFi, drops plans for cellular service