| From what I understand the new DSL subscriber orders had fallen off a small % at Verizon this past quarter, but I also read somewhere that Verizon was considering dropping DSL subscriber prices to the level of the competitions $35.00/mo. From what I understood Verizon will be going a step further than the competition by keeping the monthly price open ended and not limited to a one year special offer. Verizon also for short money can increase the present bandwidth by a lot, and apparently, they can and will increase the bandwidth to make the service more attractive. Net net Verizon will offer more bandwidth than before and the whole service will cost you less than before. I recall reading that Verizon is linking up efforts with MSN, I imagine to have MSN help pave the way for the coming synergies of the 21 century interactive multimedia experience. So for the moment WSTL seems to have a good niche in the over all DSL build out picture, where they make a reliable high quality DSL modem that is well received by the industry. If we can pick up some more big customers like SBC, one would think that should off set any individual customer slow downs, and greatly extend WSTL’s present growth. When you think of the future promise of broadband multimedia interactivity, things are getting exciting. Slowly but surely the pieces are falling into place. Anyway we have just learned that Verizon is going to further open up its market by making DSL available to 80% of its customers vs. the previous 63%, as I recall. So from what I have read, Verizon is planning on dropping prices, increasing bandwidth and making DSL available to more homes. This sounds like, that for the first leg of the broadband build out, companies like Verizon are very busy and focused and committed to their of mission of connecting up new customers. Which can only be good for Westell. |
