Are all ILECs really ready for this onslaught? e.spire Announces Plans to Expand Dial-Up Internet Service in 25 Markets and
Will Offer High-Speed
Dedicated "DSL" Access in
New York City, Atlanta and
Florida FYI
January 6, 1999 -- e.spire Communications,
Inc. today announced a significant
expansion of its Internet capabilities by
announcing plans to launch dial-up Internet
service in 25 cities and unveiling plans to
offer high-speed Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL) service in some of the nation's largest
markets, including New York City, Atlanta
and Florida. e.spire will target the small- to
medium-sized business market, including
small office/home office customers
(SOHOs), and for the first time will offer
dial-up Internet service to residential
customers in multiple markets across the
nation by the end of the Company's first
quarter.
e.spire's new Internet initiatives vault the
company into the ranks of major national
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), with the
ability to provide full-fledged dial-up service
in key U.S. markets, and ultimately to meet
burgeoning demand for high-speed DSL in
some of the nation's largest and
fastest-growing cities. e.spire's aggressive
plans for Internet expansion are made
possible by the company's extensive
infrastructure and data assets -- including a
nationwide high-speed ATM backbone
network, advanced local fiber optic
networks and digital switching capabilities
in each of the 25 new Internet markets, and
hands-on experience in serving dial-up
customers through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, CyberGate, Florida's largest ISP.
"e.spire is emerging as one of the industry's
data leaders in 1999, with the ability to offer
customers the full range of dial-up and
dedicated Internet capabilities, powered by
our own robust data network and service
infrastructure,'' said Anthony J. Pompliano,
e.spire Chairman and CEO. "Because e.spire
owns our network facilities, we have the
ability to provide increasingly higher levels
of service, quality and speed of access. In
the race to capture the phenomenal growth
of the Internet market, these assets provide
a great competitive edge -- for our
customers and for e.spire.''
e.spire is "powering up'' its dial-up Internet
service launch by taking advantage of
extensive local fiber optic networks,
equipped with Lucent 5ES- 2000 digital
switches, Newbridge MainStreet Xpress
ATM switches and Cisco Internet routers,
in each of the 25 new markets. The
combined infrastructure enables the
company to offer service in each city, to
take the major step of serving SOHO and
residential customers, and at the same time
to achieve significant economies and
enhanced margins.
"We are ready today, after the successful
integration of CyberGate's Internet business
and the acquisition of customers from ISPs
such as ICANECT and Netrunner, to move
ahead as a competitive nationwide ISP
player,'' said Vernon Irvin, e.spire Executive
Vice President of Corporate Development
and Strategy. "We plan to offer our
prospective customers -- including small- to
medium-sized companies, SOHOs, and
individual consumers, whether in office
buildings or residences -- both dedicated
and dial-up Internet service. Our sales reps
will help assess customers' business and
personal needs and match the individual
communications requirements with the best
and most cost- effective Internet service
packages available.''
e.spire's planned DSL offering will offer
customers dedicated Internet access,
opening a new universe of service
capabilities to small- and medium- sized
businesses. With e.spire's DSL service,
these customers will be able to execute
high-bandwidth Internet applications such
as videoconferencing, extranets, and remote
access, once only available to larger
companies.
Today's initiatives reflect plans to expand
e.spire's data capabilities, extending the
company's suite of dial-up Internet services
to small- to medium-sized businesses over a
broad section of the U.S., and adding an
important new market -- SOHOs and
consumers. e.spire began providing dial-up
Internet access to small- and medium-sized
business customers in early 1997 through
the acquisition of CyberGate.
e.spire dial-up Internet service will be
available in the following markets:
Albuquerque, NM; Atlanta, GA; Austin,
TX; Baltimore, MD; Birmingham, AL;
Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, SC;
Columbus, GA; Dallas, TX; El Paso, TX;
Fort Lauderdale, FL; Fort Worth, TX;
Greenville, SC; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas
City, KS/MO; Little Rock, AR; Louisville,
KY; Mobile, AL; Montgomery, AL; New
Orleans, LA; San Antonio, TX; Tampa, FL;
Tucson, AZ; Tulsa, OK; and Washington,
D.C.
In early 1998, e.spire introduced e.spire
PLATINUM, one of the industry's first
integrated products, offering bundled
Internet access, local and long distance
voice, Frame Relay and ATM. Later in the
year, e.spire became a Tier 1 Internet
company by expanding its Internet
backbone and signing key private and
public peering agreements. |
