Cavalier Telephone Offers Google Apps

Bernie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:46:05 -0500

Cavalier Telephone, a Richmond, VA based CLEC, announced the availability of Google Apps to its high speed Internet subscribers. The Google application suite will be offered through a Cavalier web domain and will provide Gmail e-mail services, Google Calendar for shared scheduling, Google Product Search for shopping, Google Picasa for photos, and the Google Start Page feature which will allow subscribers to create a customizable home page. Cavalier claims to be the first company in the communications industry to launch these services.

Cavalier Aims to be Fifth Option in Baltimore, MD

Bernie — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:17:31 -0400

Several reports have Cavalier, a Virginia based CLEC, applying for a cable franchise in Baltimore County, MD. Baltimore County is both a Comcast and Verizon FiOS served market. Adding the two DBS providers to the mix makes Cavalier a potential fifth video option. Cavalier intends to use leased copper pairs from Verizon, at least initially.

Should Cavalier enter this market, they would be bucking a trend. Very few CLECs have been known to enter such competitive markets as Baltimore with both cable and telecom behemoths already offering a triple play bundle. It’s usually the other way around – Verizon has entered several markets where a cable and smaller CLEC or cable overbuilder are already present. But Verizon has a market cap of $131 billion. Safe to say they have somewhat deeper pockets. Cavalier’s no stranger to competing with Verizon – they do so in many of their mid-Atlantic markets, including Richmond, VA where they also compete with Comcast and FiOS (Cavalier launched IPTV before the arrival of FiOS in Richmond). Maybe they’ve learned something – perhaps a weakness or two to exploit.

For more on their Baltimore plans, see this Baltimore Sun post.