ADSL rollout gets helping hands: Manitoba Telecom Services empowers ISPs as partners

A Canadian carrier is rolling out a discrete multitone-based asymmetrical digital subscriber line service today in a venture with computer stores and Internet service providers.

Manitoba Telecom Services, Winnipeg, expects to reach 70% of the city initially with the rate-adaptive service, aided in part by central offices with smaller serving areas than those in the U.S. The maximum loop length is about 5 kilometers.

The carrier, government-owned until it went private last year, is offering a maximum speed of 1.5 Mb/s until it determines higher speeds are necessary. The rate-adaptive feature will enable MTS to charge a premium for the higher speeds, said David Rothenberger, ADSL product manager for MTS.

MTS is partnering with four ISPs and 12 computer stores, which have demonstration ADSL lines and act as a one-stop shop by selling end users Internet access, computer software and network interface cards for Ethernet connections. The partners fax the users' applications for ADSL service to MTS, which sends technicians to install modems at the customer premises. Installation usually takes 20 to 30 minutes and lets MTS meet its customers, so the carrier isn't considering the splitterless ADSL that eliminates truck rolls, Rothenberger said.

Residential service costs $44.95 a month plus a $100 one-time installation charge. Business users pay $99.95 a month with a $150 installation fee.

The carrier also provides tunneling connections to the ISPs so they can manage, run and troubleshoot their own traffic (see figure). MTS sets up a point-to-point protocol connection from the customer premises to the CO. That data is routed to the appropriate ISP over a virtual circuit, via either frame relay or asynchronous transfer mode. In the future, the end user will be able to switch ISPs on the fly.

"Phone companies should look at DSL as an opportunity to maximize their revenues by partnering with ISPs and getting out of the business of managing all the technical support associated with the user," said Sassan Babaie, vice president of marketing for Pulsecom, which is supplying service access multiplexers to MTS.

Telephony has further bolstered its editorial presence with the repositioning of a current staffer and the hiring of a new Associate Editor-News.

Stephania H. Davis, who previously was Telephony's Associate Editor-News, now has assumed the newly created position of Associate Editor-New Media. The new position reflects the increasing importance of Internet coverage for Telephony's communications carrier readership.

Before joining Telephony in January 1997, Davis was a general assignment metro reporter for The Chicago Tribune. She received her bachelor's degree from Howard University.

"Having Stephania step up into the Associate Editor-New Media position will be a tremendous asset," said Vince Vittore, New Media Editor for Telephony. "Her experience reporting general industry news will provide an excellent knowledge base as we continue to increase our coverage of the Internet and its multitude of issues."

Sarah Schmelling has been named to replace Davis as Associate Editor-News. Her primary responsibility will be writing breaking news stories for Telephony's A.M. Report.

Schmelling recently received a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Before her studies,she was an editorial assistant for the American Thoracic Society. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin.

"Sarah is well-versed in news-gathering methodology and is an excellent writer," said Joan Engebretson, Telephony's News Editor. "She also shows tremendous enthusiasm for her work, which should serve her well in covering the ever-changing telecom industry."