Globalcomm: AT&T content with Project Lightspeed bandwidth

CHICAGO--Chris Rice isn’t worried about having enough bandwidth.

In fact, the AT&T executive shrugs off concerns raised within the telecom industry that AT&T’s fiber-to-the-node approach with Project Lightspeed will not be able to support near-term demand for high-definition TV and HD-based digital video recording, much less longer term for bandwidth.

“Today, at 2500 feet, I’m getting a solid 30 [Mb/s],” said Rice, whose company did a controlled launch of Project Lightspeed in San Antonio beginning in December. “We figure with 20 Mb/s, we can deliver one HD channel and two SD channels. With the second rendition, in 2007, we will go to two HD channels and two SD channels. And that will grow as compression improves.”

In addition, Rice said in a Globalcomm interview, AT&T has several strategies for increasing that bandwidth as needed.

“Pair bonding will enable us to double the bandwidth on longer loops,” he said. “On a 1500 foot loop, we can get 40 [Mb/s], and with pair bonding, we can get 80 [Mb/s]. If we need to, we can split the DA [distribution area], which we have been doing for years in the voice world, and shorten the loops in the process to the point that everyone’s at 1500 to 2500 feet. We can push fiber for the service area interface out to the home, as the customer buys it, using GPON at 2.4 Gigabits per second downstream and 1.2 Gb/s upstream.

“I just don’t believe bandwidth is an issue,” Rice concluded.

AT&T will launch 15 to 20 other Project Lightspeed markets this year, he added, in addition to rolling out its Home Zone service in mid-summer, combining AT&T’s DSL service with Dish Networks’ satellite video to create an integrated, in-home network experience.

AT&T is also launching IP multimedia subsystem technology this year, initially to support VoIP to Project Lightspeed customers, Rice said. It began installing the Lucent Technologies IMS platform in February and is creating two geographically redundant IMS architectures to provide backup service that can be used in disaster recovery efforts, he added. In 2007, AT&T also will roll out dual-mode handsets, in conjunction with Cingular, to support cellular/Wi-Fi convergence.