To: Rande Is who wrote (4085 ) 6/7/1999 4:14:00 PM From: Geof Hollingsworth Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 12823
Rande, I don't think you have addressed Bernard's key question (do you believe home broadband access is via FTTH, and if so who is going to pay for it)? From your response, it sounds like you are now saying that you didn't mean that fibre is going to kill xDSL, but rather cable...? If that is your contention, a few often-repeated rejoinders: 1. Digital cable is hardly a revolution (IMHO), but the HFC upgrade to enable 2-way broadband access potentially is, especially now that we know who is willing to pay for it (avoiding several $billion in annual access fees paid to the ILECs provides a lot of capital expenditure). The problem, as many in the bay area are discovering, is that without HI-PHY the current architecture just doesn't scale (some of us can say we told them so). With CableLabs recent rumored retreat from DOCSIS in favor of Broadcom's "TDM-lite", the way forward seems even more muddled (to me, anyway). 2. There are over a million T1 lines in the US which Rhythm, Covad etc. can replace with SDSL at a fraction of the current monthly charges and throw in Internet access to boot. These are typically in places where cable doesn't go (it may "pass" the business park, but there are no drops, and the cost of digging up streets, sidewalks and parking lots to provide hookups will keep it that way). Why won't a significant chunk of that business migrate to the data-CLECs, and further why won't the current frame-relay customers upgrade to xDSL (the evidence is they are doing so)? 3. Internationally the xDSL opportunities are just getting started. I understand that in Japan, where they have spent more money trying to make FTTH happen than anywhere else I know of, NTT is in the process of letting the biggest xDSL contract since the Dead Sea was only sick. FWIW, I think cable will win out in the home access arena, but xDSL will achieve a meaningful penetration. In the SOHO market, xDSL looks like the clear winner. And until fiber termination costs get much lower, I don't see fiber as a meaningful access technology either place. The issue for me isn't the need for bandwidth, it's the cost relative to the customer base's willingness to pay.