Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said the No. 2 U.S. cable company will deploy home management services in Austin, Texas in the fall and will subsequently roll them out across its national footprint.
“My sense is that over the next few years, it will roll everywhere,” said Rutledge, speaking Tuesday at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet and Telecom Conference in Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s not really a question of are we going to do it, but a question of getting it right, getting all the control apparatus right and security.
“There are 300 million devices connected to our 28 million broadband customers,” Rutledge added. “We have a tremendous connections business, and we have the opportunity to provide features in that connectivity business that do not exist today, that includes privacy, security, control over all the devices in your home—the ability to look through your network and see what the signal levels are throughout your dwelling.”
Rutledge didn’t offer a lot of details on the home WiFi management plans of Charter, which has sat on the sidelines the last five years as Comcast has steadily built out its Xfinity Home business.
Charter has reportedly been in talks with a number of name brand home automation companies.
