SBC says LU and NT ATM gear will be in trails soon to act as trunking switches to anchor traditional local voice switches.
SBC to line up DSL services, Pronto
By Tim Greene
Network World Fusion, 10/18/99
SBC this morning announced Project Pronto, a $6
billion overhaul of its network that gambles on digital
subscriber line technology to provide broadband
services.
Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2002,
Project Pronto calls for:
- Extending fiber networks closer to customers.
- Installing DSL remote terminals so the technology
can reach more than 80% of customers.
-Converting business T-1 circuits from copper lines to
fiber, enabling fast turn-ups of new broadband
services.
- Installing ATM switches in SBC's trunking
backbone, replacing circuit switches.
SBC promises the network will be user controlled,
giving customers the ability to turn services on and off.
The minimum guaranteed download speed for DSL
will jump from 384K bit/sec to 1.5M bit/sec, but the
price will remain the same at $39 per month. The
maximum speed will jump from 1.5M bit/sec to 6M
bit/sec for $129 per month.
After Project Pronto is completed, all customers who
can get DSL will be guaranteed the 1.5M bit/sec
downloads. Only 60% will be close enough to SBC's
DSL mulitplexers to get 6M bit/sec.
SBC says it expects to take in $3.5 billion more per
year from its DSL services after Project Pronto.
SBC would not say whose equipment will be used in
the upgrade, but says Lucent and Nortel ATM gear
will be in trails soon to act as trunking switches to
anchor traditional local voice switches.
Of the $6 billion, 75% will be spent on local loop
improvements and the rest on backbone upgrades.
SBC says it expects to capture 40% of the
broadband access business in its service area, with
the reset being split by cable providers and
business-oriented competitive local exchange carriers.
SBC says it may have to buy up two more
companies, one to give it a wireless presence and
another to help its strategy of expanding into local
markets outside its home territory.
SBC has bought up Pacific Telesis, Nevada Bell,
Southern New England Telephone Company and
Ameritech since the Telecommunications Reform Act
of 1996 was passed. |
