Comcast Sets Net Phone Plan

Comcast Corp. said Wednesday that it would offer digital phone service to almost all its customers by the end of 2006 and that Chief Executive Brian L. Roberts would succeed C. Michael Armstrong as chairman.

Comcast will begin offering phone service in three cities this year as it prepares to expand nationwide, Roberts, 44, said at the company’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.

Roberts is selling digital phone service, which costs less than traditional phone lines and can provide more features such as video calling, to try to compete with Verizon Communications Inc. and other regional phone carriers. Those companies have teamed with satellite television operators to offer Web access, phone service and TV programming.

Comcast this year will begin offering the phone service in Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Springfield, Mass., over its cable systems using voice over Internet protocol technology, Roberts said. The technology allows consumers to make phone calls via a cable modem rather than a traditional phone jack.

Cox Communications Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. last year began selling digital phone services. Philadelphia-based Comcast already offers traditional telephone service to 1.3 million customers.

Digital phone service may offer consumers the opportunity to use their television set to manage such features as caller identification or call forwarding, the companies have said.

Comcast shares rose 12 cents to $29.69 on Nasdaq.

Roberts outlined his strategy for digital phone service a month after he withdrew Comcast’s unsolicited bid for Walt Disney Co. after failing to convince investors of the merits of combining entertainment assets with his cable systems.

Roberts also announced Armstrong, 65, would leave the company to spend more time with his family. Armstrong joined Comcast after it bought AT&T; Corp.’s cable systems and was the architect of AT&T;’s failed push into cable television.