The lower layer: Teligent enters the building with new DSL offering

Teligent plans to announce this week a lower-tier data service for businesses that want to upgrade beyond dial-up links but aren't quite ready for high-speed connections. The carrier will use in-building digital subscriber line technology to extend its fixed broadband wireless access network.

Teligent will deploy its new SmartWave DSL service in buildings in its territories that are already lit by broadband wireless connections. Customers that don't require big pipes can buy a DSL link that uses existing building wiring. The carrier hopes to lock in customers and gradually draw them up the speed and pricing chain.

"It's a way for us to take customers from a dial-up environment and give them dedicated speeds at affordable rates," said Richard Hanna, president of field operations for Teligent. "If customers take that step today, chances are they're going to decide to scale up to more bandwidth."

SmartWave DSL, which Teligent plans to begin offering in 11 of its 28 markets on July 1, will be based on symmetrical DSL technology and use infrastructure equipment from Ascend Communications, Hanna said. The service will be comparable in speed and price to other business-focused DSL services, ranging from $149 a month for 150 kb/s to $499 a month for 1.5 Mb/s.

Customers will pay approximately $500 for premises equipment and be offered service level agreements, said Lisa Cannaday, Teligent's director of Internet and data solutions. "The difference for us is that we don't have the constraints of distance, so we're able to guarantee the speeds," she said.

In addition, Teligent bypasses local networks with its broadband wireless approach and equips all the in-building facilities for its service, which means there is no contact with incumbents for deployment or upgrades.

"We're in the buildings, so we eliminate line quality and loop lengths issues," Hanna said. "If customers want to graduate to a full T-1, we can do that without having to go back to the incumbent."

Teligent's aggressive move should help other competitive carriers realize how they need to diversify their service offerings, said one analyst.

"This is the first real indication that these new operators are defining their markets through practice," said Larry Swasey, vice president of the communications research practice of Allied Business Intelligence. "It will break this cycle of pigeonholing these operators into certain applications."