[1st-mile-nm] Qwest DSL Upgrading

[Richard Lowenberg]

www.dslreports.com/shownews/Qwest-Testing-Line-Bonded-DSL-90785

Qwest Testing Line Bonded DSL
Still skittish about getting into IPTV

9:34AM Tuesday Jan 08 2008

Qwest will be spending $300 million over the next two years to bring
20Mbps VDSL to around 1.5 million customers. The company says they spent
$70-100 million on the project in 2007, and will spend another $200
million this year. Qwest hopes to see a FTTN/VDSL penetration rate of 40%
by 2010, and the upgrades are going to cost the company around $175 per
home. The Rocky Mountain News says that Qwest is also testing line
bonding:

The technology could enable the Denver telco to provide data speeds of up
to 35 to 38 megabits a second. Currently, the company's fastest advertised
rates are 7 megabits a second. It's too early to say whether Qwest will
ever go to a bonded DSL line platform. But if the technology proves to be
commercially viable, it could be an option for providing video on demand.

Of course that has also been AT&T's hope, and the industry (with Qwest in
the front row) is watching to see whether AT&T can really provide multiple
HD streams over copper without really compromising image quality. Qwest so
far hasn't been keen to jump with both feet into the IPTV market, and
unless U-Verse is a smashing success, it's likely to stay that way.


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Richard Lowenberg
P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110,  505-603-5200 cell

1st-Mile Institute
New Mexico Broadband Initiative
www.1st-mile.com
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