Vonage today announced it has inked its first co-branded partnership with a cable operator, signing up Armstrong Cable to provide broadband telephony service though its network.

Under terms of the deal, Armstrong will brand the service under a still to be determined name while Vonage will provide the network, equipment, and billing and support services. Customer premise equipment, which includes a four-port router and Cisco’s analog telephone adapter, is drop shipped to the user, who is responsible for set up.

Armstrong, the fourteenth largest cable operator in the U.S., serves five states in the Eastern half of the U.S. Vonage will offer Armstrong’s users unlimited, flat-rate local and long distance calling throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Though it is the first announced cable customer, Armstrong won’t be the last. Vonage is working on a number of deals with larger operators wanting a quick way into the telephone business, said Daniel Elwell, account executive with Vonage.

“There’s a little sales and marketing cost, but it's virtually no effort on the part of the cable operator,” he said.