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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chris Stovin who wrote (8652)	12/21/1998 10:24:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 18016

Children next! I think I count. :) Here's some industry news that will push NN's products either directly or indirectly. Not the price squabble, but the fact Bell Canada's deploying DSL: <<< December 18, 1998 18:34 Internet Providers Formally Protest Bell Canada DSL Plan OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1998 DEC 18 (NB) -- By Grant Buckler, Newsbytes. The Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) has asked federal regulators to stop Bell Canada from offering digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access service at what the Internet service providers (ISPs) say is a rate well below cost. The CAIP submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) protests Bell's plan to offer DSL access through its Sympatico ISP operation at about 40 Canadian dollars per month. The ISPs maintain that the services they would need to acquire from Bell in order to offer comparable services would cost them as much as 200 Canadian dollars per month per customer. While not disputing that number, Bell Canada's vice-president of regulatory affairs, Bernard Courtois, told Newsbytes that Sympatico is currently offering DSL service at a loss in order to develop the technology. He said other ISPs have the option of doing the same, and Bell Canada would like to see them help to develop DSL and bring the costs down. Gord Waites, vice-president of operations and development at Toronto ISP and CAIP member Netcom Canada Inc., told Newsbytes that under a tariff Bell filed with the CRTC in 1997, the components needed to offer a service comparable to Bell's Sympatico High Speed Edition DSL service would cost an independent ISP more than $200 per month per customer in many cases, depending on location and some other factors. "Nobody's going to buy it for $200 and resell it for $40," Waites said. Courtois said 150-200 Canadian dollars is probably a realistic estimate of what it would cost an ISP to provide access with conventional asynchronous DSL (ADSL) technology. Sympatico High Speed Edition uses Northern Telecom Ltd.'s One Meg Modem, a DSL Lite technology that does not require installation by a technician at the customer's premises. That will bring the cost down, Courtois said, though he could not provide a specific figure. The submission asks that if Bell Canada or any of its affiliates want to provide retail Internet access using DSL, the services should be provided by Bell Canada itself at rates that reflect costs and are approved by the CRTC. The ISPs also say they want Bell's wholesale rates for the services reduced. Earlier, Internet Direct and other Ontario ISPs asked the federal Competition Bureau to investigate the pricing practices of Bell Sygma Inc., a Bell unit offering high-speed Internet access services. They charged Bell Sygma with trying to drive small providers out of the market by pricing DSL services well below cost. The new service is priced lower than previously announced Bell pricing for DSL services. CAIP said its membership includes more than 125 ISPs in nine provinces. Bell Canada operates in Ontario and Quebec, and currently has announced DSL service in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, and Hull, Quebec. >>>>