CES: Whitacre says DSL numbers met, convergence finally here

LAS VEGAS--Making what he said was his first speech in Las Vegas, SBC Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre said the telco’s new U-verse service would revolutionize the way consumers communicate and watch and listen to entertainment. Additionally, he said the company met its goal of topping 5 million DSL users by the end of 2004.

While announcing little that hasn’t been revealed earlier this week, Whitacre said the new service would revolutionize the way consumers communicate and watch and listen to entertainment.

"It’s about ensuring that the entire universe of communications and entertainment works around you," he said.

At the same time, the service would provide concrete evidence that long-discussed convergence has arrived.

"Convergence has become something like the weather," he said. "Everybody talks about it but no one does much about it. This is a convergence that all of us have talked about for so many years but it’s here. It opens up a whole new realm."

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show here, the company is demonstrating a prototype of the service using either Microsoft TV’s software running on Thomson’s IP1100 set-top or 2Wire’s MediaPortal. Additionally, SBC is showing a prototype HD set-top. The company also is leaning heavily on its alliances with Movielink and Yahoo!

Among the more aggressive services Whitacre discussed was a converged offering that would combine Cingular wireless service with personal video recording or the ability to choose different camera angles when watching sports.

SBC expects to begin testing the service later this year. And while many of the elements are still in the alpha testing phase, the basic technology is in place, Whitacre said.

"Up to now, video has been about hardware," he said. "With IP TV, it’s about hardware and software. The IP TV generation will be far different than what you have today. We’re putting the technology through its initial paces now and the initial results are good."