[opendtv] News: Verizon Plans to Test A Superfast Fiber Network
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 08:55:44 -0400
Verizon Plans to Test A Superfast Fiber Network
By ALMAR LATOUR
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 19, 2004; Page D4
NEW YORK -- Verizon Communications Inc. is expected today to announce
plans to offer super-high-speed fiber connections to consumers in a
fast-growing Texas community.
The move marks the beginning of a multibillion-dollar technology
rollout that could turn Verizon into a de facto cable company as it
tries to better compete against cable companies.
Starting this summer, the nation's largest local phone company will
start offering local, long-distance and data services over a new
fiber network in Keller, Texas. Verizon is expected to add video
programming, though it hasn't decided which content provider it will
choose.
Fiber Connections
Verizon picked Keller, a community of about 33,000 near Dallas, to
start its deployment because Keller has doubled in size over the past
10 years and construction there is booming, making it easier to
install the fiber technology. In Keller, Verizon also plans to
convert the traditional copper network connections into fiber
connections, though it is unlikely to do so throughout its primary
region in the North and Northeast.
Verizon is counting on fiber to prepare for an age when consumers are
expected to demand super-high-speed bandwidth to download video,
photos and applications that don't exist today. Verizon officials
have decided the traditional copper lines that now connect the
nation's homes and businesses aren't fully up to the task over the
long run. Verizon has announced it plans to spend $3 billion during
the next two years in such mass-market broadband initiatives that
include fiber and wireless broadband.
With the fiber, Verizon hopes to deliver multiple-speed
Internet-access services, ranging from five megabits a second to
roughly 30 megabits a second. The digital-subscriber-line, or DSL,
service Verizon now offers through its copper lines varies greatly,
running as fast as 1.5 megabits a second, though usually the speed is
much slower.
The highest-speed bandwidth service is likely to cost around $80 a
month, on par with pricing for its wireless broadband service, but a
final decision hasn't been made. The lower-end data service will be
priced to compete with cable companies and geared toward average
residential computer users.
Aimed at Videogamers
A 15-megabits-a-second service will be geared to heavy home-computer
users such as videogamers, as well as small businesses. A
30-megabits-a-second service would be aimed only at businesses. The
theoretical maximum speed of Verizon's fiber network will be 100
megabits a second, for which there currently aren't any applications.
Eventually, such bandwidth would allow Verizon to offer hundreds of
television channels over fiber, putting it toe to toe with cable
companies.
Verizon aims to give one million residences the ability to connect
directly to its fiber network this year, in places scattered around
the country -- mainly locations with new real-estate developments.
Verizon has said it expects to double the pace of the rollouts next
year. Even at that pace, it would take would take well over a decade
to match the size of its existing retail customer base of 26 million
primary phone lines.
Other companies, including BellSouth Corp., also have rolled out
fiber networks, though none has stated its ambition as strongly as
Verizon has. BellSouth, of Atlanta, has a vast network in the ground,
but it hasn't yet connected many homes directly with fiber, beyond
trials in Atlanta and Tampa, Fla. On the other hand, Qwest
Communications International Inc., of Denver, has decided not to roll
out fiber, saying it isn't economically feasible because fiber can
cost as much as $2,000 to deploy a connection between a home and the
network.
Meanwhile, SBC Communications Inc., of San Antonio, has found that
its customers are interested in getting video service from the phone
company. In the last month of the first quarter, some 40,000
subscribers signed up for its satellite service, which it offers as
part of an agreement with EchoStar Communications Corp.
Texas government officials see the planned Verizon rollout as a
potential attraction for businesses -- and jobs -- to the state. Jeff
Moseley, head of economic development for the Texas state government,
says he hopes the technology will be rolled out to other parts of the
state. "This could generate new jobs," he said.
Write to Almar Latour at almar.latour@xxxxxxx
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