This will quicken internet speed and thereby make echoMEDIA's product more compatible.
BellSouth Rolls Out ADSL
BellSouth yesterday began marketing the upcoming roll-out of its
ADSL high-speed Internet access service that will become
available in selected markets at the end of August. "[The service]
promises to be big. It's very big to us. It's absolutely critical to
our future success that we be the business and consumer choice
for data services providers" says Donna Lachance, vp marketing
for BellSouth.net Services.
Eventually, the company hopes to roll out to 30 markets and
make the service available to all 75 million of its customers,
Lachance says. For now, its short-term goal is to be in 7
markets by October. Beyond an information area on its web site
and a name-capturing mechanism, marketing plans have not yet
been solidified but will include traditional media campaigns as
service availability gains momentum, she says.
The company is targeting two different customer types:
advanced Internet users and what Lachance calls, "the
wannabes." The second group means people who have wanted
to go online but haven't because of the inconvenience and/or
speed deficiencies of a dial-up connection. The ADSL service
eliminates those barriers for customers, Lachance says.
Of course, BellSouth isn't the only company offering high-speed
Internet services. The @Home Network and Time Warner
Communications' The Road Runner Group both have a few
years under their belt. And because they offer similar
convenience and speed benefits, they are targeting the same
types of customers. Almost a fifth of Road Runner subscribers,
for example, had never had an online service before, says Bob
Benya, svp of marketing at The Road Runner Group.
Lachance suggests her share of new online users will be higher
since BellSouth's customers cover a wider group in terms of
income and geography. Of the cable industry's lead in
broadband services, she says: "They've mostly created pent up
demand for high-speed access and we're pretty confident that
BellSouth has an established, strong reputation as a high quality
Internet access provider." So far, so good. In a late afternoon
interview, the name count for those who have signed up to get
the service once available was in the hundreds and expected to
reach the thousands by the end of the day, according to
Lachance.
And, of course, BellSouth views the emerging services market
as big because it is its future. The company has a corporate
campaign running to position it as a progressive, technology
service provider as it expands the type of company it wants to
be. "We are not a telephone company, we are a communications
company," she says.
--Kathryn Dennis |
