Clint,
MCI WorldCom to Offer DSL Service Nationwide, Challenging Baby Bells
MCI WorldCom Inc. said it will launch a nationwide, ultrafast
Internet-access-service via traditional copper telephone lines.
The service, known as Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, allows customers to
surf the Internet at speeds several times faster than they can using conventional
computer modems. MCI WorldCom said it will sell the service directly to small
businesses and Internet-service providers. The Internet companies, in turn, will
sell the product to consumers.
MCI WorldCom's plan, unveiled Wednesday at the Comdex computer-industry
trade show in Las Vegas, helps validate DSL technology. Despite stepped-up
efforts by the Baby Bell telephone companies to deploy such services,
digital-subscriber lines still trail cable modems as the broadband-access
medium of choice among small companies and consumers.
"To date, we haven't been really optimistic on DSL because a big national
telecommunications company hasn't stepped to the plate in terms of providing
broadband," said James L. Freeze, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. The
MCI WorldCom launch "changes that."
Indeed, MCI WorldCom said it expects consumers to be able to purchase the
high-speed service plus online access from their Internet-service providers for
about $40 to $60 a month -- a rate comparable to current cable-modem
packages. U S West Inc., the Denver-based Bell, earlier this year offered a
package of DSL and Internet services to residential customers for about $60 a
month....
For the whole story, please go to interactive.wsj.com
****what will this impact the cable providers or the baby bells?
Iris |
