<GTE Communications Corporation, a newly formed competitive local
exchange carrier and unit of GTE, today announced that it has begun
commercial deployment of asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) service in Southern California...>
Here is my typical cautionary interpretation of this announcement.
Irrespective of whether it goes to WSTL/AMTX or whether it is for more than, say, 50K lines, this announcement from the *CLEC* division of GTE indicates the hesitancy of GTE Networks (the far larger LEC division) from making any kind of full deployment committments until the supreme court appeal is completed.
Even though GTE Networks claims that the existing 4 area LEC trials will be converted into full service in 98 Q1, the high cost (of the CLEC version - $125/month for 680Kbps downstream and $700 for 1.5Mbps down) supports for me the thesis the press has been offering - that we are not near prime time for this technology (irrespective of optimistic blurbs to the future in this release).
Of further interest, the emphasis on tenament and dorm style service indicates a corporate eye on potential VDSL service (which NEEDS these kind of short distances for the bandwidth video demands).
It seems GTE may be hoping to compete with cable by offering video to some apartment style buildings. Cable of course, is planning to offer voicetone. This will be an interesting battle, but the billions being poured into cable's clean, new, un-bridge-tapped and un-load-coiled HFC will hook up a LOT of new homes with 2way, offering better prices and performance than ADSL.
* Note, Consistent with my current opinions (which can change quickly as data presents itself), I am neither long nor short any ADSL stocks presently, but do have a position in cable company CVC, and am considering a position in HLIT (which provides integrated FO transmission systems for HFC cable)
Steve |
