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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KYA27 who wrote (8050)	6/4/1999 9:02:00 AM
From: William Hunt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21876

Thread---Lucent Technologies Inc. Dow Jones Newswires -- June 3, 1999 DJ BellSouth Wiring 400 Homes With Direct Optic Link ATLANTA (AP)--BellSouth Corp. (BLS) is wiring 400 homes with a direct optic link, testing a super-fast, but costly "fiber-to-the-curb" connection that may one day replace copper phone wires. The new Internet and video service uses a new technology called passive optical networking developed by Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) and Oki Electric Industry Co. of Japan. The trial will begin this fall in an Atlanta suburb and may be expanded to other BellSouth markets later, the regional phone company said Thursday. In theory, the new link can carry data at 100 megabits per second - up to 150 times faster than the copper phone-wire technology called DSL, or digital subscriber line, that BellSouth and other companies have been introducing around the country. Atlanta-based BellSouth will price the service at $59.95 per month, the same as it charges for DSL. While BellSouth and other companies have already installed "fiber-to-the-curb" systems shared by several homes, the new system will run into each home individually and doesn't require a power source between the network and the home. "This is much more expensive, of course, but it enables significantly greater capability," said Rex G. Mitchell, an analyst for Banc of America Securities. "This is good news. No one has done this yet." BellSouth declined to disclose the cost of installing the fiber-optic line, but spokesman John Goldman said the price is expected to be as cheap as copper wire in two years as demand grows and technology improves. Telephone and cable companies have been scrambling to find ways to deliver faster Internet connections that can handle video and other data-heavy applications. Not everyone can get DSL, which is usually sold at speeds ranging from 0.640 to 1.5 megabits per second, because the signal can't travel very far from a phone network switch before fading. Therefore, the new fiber technology might help BellSouth compete with rivals like AT&T who are planning to use cable TV wires for Internet, telephone and television service. "We want to gain some information and some experience," BellSouth's Goldman said. "Widespread deployment in the region is probably about two years away." In addition to high-speed Internet access, BellSouth's new fiber link will feature 120 channels of digital video entertainment, 70 channels of analog video, and 31 channels of digital audio service. BEST WISHES BILL