Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : PairGain Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RJP who wrote (27949)	1/12/1999 10:52:00 AM
From: Larry J.	Respond to of 36349

PAIR flat, WSTL up sharply. Someone must think that WSTL won the SBC contract. Far be it for PAIR to release whether they are playing a role (here, or @ Sprint). If PAIR lost both contracts we'll be @ 6 again in no time as this market sells off. We've had our 2 press releases yesterday, guess its time to hibernate till next month. LJ

To: RJP who wrote (27949)	1/12/1999 10:56:00 AM
From: Joe Griffin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36349

Who is modem supplier?

To: RJP who wrote (27949)	1/13/1999 4:26:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 36349

SBC Gives DSL Market a Shot in the Arm -- Special Report January 13, 1999 -- Talk about getting started with a bang! It has seemed for quite some time that the DSL industry was lagging behind the cable modem industry in marketing broadband service. With the recent announcements, SBC is initiating a major shift. By offering DSL service for $39 at a guaranteed speed of 384 Kbps (going up to 1.5 Mbps), SBC is introducing a whole new way of pricing at the same time that they are giving the industry a competitive shot in the arm. And with Pac Bell Internet's offer of Internet service for $10, this is a very attractive package for consumers and businesses alike. Pending approval from the FCC, this service offering is the most aggressive, in terms of pricing, to date. Perhaps it is having the impact potential customers want, because Flashcom has already matched the offer in California. Another major announcement is that AOL has entered into a strategic agreement with SBC Communications/Pac Bell to offer DSL to millions of their customers starting in the summer of 1999. This is a good thing – it needed to happen to push along consumer adoption of DSL. AOL is recognized as a leader in marketing strategy and customer adoption. AOL knows how to communicate the benefits of DSL to "Joe Web Surfer”. On the downside, let's hope we don't see another problem with oversubscription. For the sake of conversation, we'll assume that AOL has learned from previous mistakes and is busy planning to handle the load on the backbone beginning this summer. One more issue, which is a general complaint about the industry is that we see announcements of services planned to be offered “down the road”. This is so unusual – imagine Coca Cola announcing a new soft drink six months ahead of time. It just wouldn't happen. What would be better is for companies to make announcements at the launch of the service or trial rather than ahead of time. In some cases, the planned offerings never come to fruition, or they are significantly changed by the time they launch. Back to the SBC announcement. Three questions come to mind: First, how will it all play out? Will the FCC approve the pricing? Assuming they do, can SBC handle the load of high-speed customers on the backbone? There are people in the industry already questioning this aspect; it remains to be seen what SBC's response is for this – what their plan is for handling the traffic. The final (and perhaps most important) question is, how long will this offer be in effect? Can the company sustain the significant cost structure in the long run? Sure, this is a market share strategy, plain and simple. But how long will they sustain this strategy? Our assumption is that they are betting that the cost structure will decrease over time as the entire market shifts its pricing due to the competitive threat SBC holds. © 1995-1998 TeleChoice, Inc. All rights reserved.