Bundled cable TV, telephone and high-speed Internet access will soon be available to residents of Aiken.

Cable provider Atlantic Broadband, which is investing more than $7 million to upgrade the cable system it acquired from G-Force Cable last year, said tests of its phone service are under way.

The service should be launched in early fall, allowing the company to offer a "triple play" bundled package similar to those offered in Augusta by Knology Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Quincy, Mass.-based Atlantic Broadband Finance LLC has already completed upgrades in Aiken County to include digital video capabilities and high-speed Internet service.

Atlantic Broadband spokesman Doug Curran said the same upgrades will be made to the Barnwell County system by the end of September, with a telephone service rollout scheduled there in early 2008.

Parts of Bamberg and Allendale counties will receive the video and high-speed Internet upgrades later this year and should have phone service by mid-2008, Mr. Curran said.

Aside from bringing in 100 new TV and music channels and digital video-recording capabilities, the network upgrade will allow Internet customers download speeds as fast as 8 megabits per second.

"That's way, way faster than anything else in that area of South Carolina," Mr. Curran said.

Atlantic Broadband's telephone service is delivered using Voice over Internet Protocol technology, known as VoIP, the same method used by Web-based phone companies such as Vonage Inc. However, Atlantic Broadband's calls are routed through its own network.

"It never touches the public Internet," Mr. Curran said.

The bundled TV, Internet and telephone package will cost $99.95 a month. With taxes and fees, the price ends up being about $107.

Atlantic Broadband has about 21,000 customers in Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg and Allendale counties. It also operates cable systems in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.