BellSouth(Divicom customer) accelerates data and video deployment....................................
newsalert.com
BellSouth Accelerates Delivery of Data and Video Services
PR Newswire - October 08, 1998 07:13
Increased Fiber Optic Deployment Helps Market Coverage
NEW YORK, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- BellSouth today announced plans to speed delivery of broadband services in the Southeastern United States using a "mosaic" strategy that integrates ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line), wireless digital video and fiber-to-the-curb technologies. At the same time, the company is escalating its deployment of fiber optic transport by some 200,000 homes during 1999.
While briefing financial analysts on BellSouth's comprehensive data strategy, Bill Smith, BellSouth vice president for network strategic planning, unveiled plans that will enable BellSouth to "maximize the availability, revenue potential and operational efficiencies of broadband services, i.e. high speed data and video. BellSouth will use a 'mosaic' approach including ADSL, wireless digital video and integrated fiber to rapidly enter markets with broad coverage of advanced services," Smith said.
By concentrating on delivering services instead of the technology used to deliver the services, Smith sees BellSouth's integrated broadband strategy better serving both customers and the company, as well as enabling BellSouth to better compete with other service providers, such as cable TV companies.
"Customers don't care how we deliver the services they are demanding, they just want us to make them available as soon as possible and as economically as possible. We believe our approach will accomplish those objectives while providing long-term operating economies at the same time," he said.
The BellSouth strategy uses existing copper plant, ADSL and wireless digital television, supplemented by optical fiber to the curb, to deliver high-speed data, voice and entertainment services. "In areas where copper lines aren't already in place, we've been installing optical fiber for several years. We'll continue that practice and, during 1999, we'll replace existing copper plant serving some 200,000 homes in metro Atlanta and South Florida. Based on the results of these first office applications, we hope to use this approach in other markets starting in the year 2000," Smith explained.
Use of integrated fiber will supplement BellSouth's deployment of ADSL, a high speed data access service currently being deployed in 30 metro areas across BellSouth's nine states. "We're developing a high speed data service to be provided over fiber with essentially the same capabilities as ADSL provides over copper," Smith said. BellSouth plans to trial the new date service later this year and begin deployment in 1999.
"While capable of higher speeds, initially we'll offer the fiber-based service with the same top speed as our consumer ADSL offering -- 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second) -- and at the same price. Combining this new high speed data service with ADSL will help BellSouth make high speed data access service available to more customers than would be possible with either technology alone," he said.
Integrated fiber technology also will supplement BellSouth delivery of entertainment services. BellSouth currently markets both wireless and wireline entertainment (digital TV) services. Wireless digital TV service using multichannel multipoint distribution system (MMDS) technology is being offered in New Orleans and Atlanta, and is planned for Orlando, Jacksonville, Daytona and South Florida in the future. BellSouth offers wireline cable TV service in parts of the Atlanta, Birmingham, Charleston and Jacksonville metropolitan areas.
"Our integrated fiber architecture will allow BellSouth to deliver entertainment services, where we have franchises or licenses to do so, with only a minor equipment modification. Combined with our wireless or MMDS service, this would enable us to better cover an entire metro market. At the same time, integrated fiber is capable of delivering wireline cable TV services, thus eliminating the need to over build facilities," Smith pointed out.
Still another benefit of BellSouth's mosaic strategy involves the use of fiber in areas with traditionally higher operating costs. "While the cost of deploying fiber continues to decrease, it hasn't yet become as economical as copper for voice services alone. However, when we consider the operational economies associated with fiber, especially in areas with higher operational costs, along with new high-speed services, it becomes affordable to use the fiber in new build and facility exhaust situations," Smith said.
Finally, Smith indicated that accelerated deployment of fiber is a major step in the transformation of its loop network to position BellSouth for future services that may require additional bandwidth.
BellSouth is a $21 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, cable and digital TV, directory advertising and publishing, and Internet and data services to nearly 31 million customers in 20 countries worldwide.
BellSouth provides telecommunications services in nine Southeastern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. With its headquarters in Atlanta, BellSouth serves more than 23 million local telephone lines and provides local exchange and intraLATA long distance service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world.
For more information on BellSouth, visit our site on the World Wide Web at bellsouth.com.
SOURCE BellSouth
/CONTACT: John Goldman of BellSouth, 205-977-5007, or
john.goldman@bellsouth.net/
/Web site: bellsouth.com
(BLS)
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