U S West first to trumpet DSL

Buried on the third page of a press release about U S West's 1997 market plan was one of the more anticipated announcements in the telecom world of data access.

U S West detailed its commercial digital subscriber line service plans, including both single-pair, high-bit-rate DSL and asymmetrical DSL service, for 10 cities in the first half of this year. The announcement makes U S West the first Bell regional holding company to definitively announce DSL service.

The Western states' telco will initially offer single-pair HDSL with symmetrical data rates of 768 kb/s using PairGain Technologies' modems, said Joe Glynn, U S West director of internetworking products. Rate adaptive ADSL service is part of the announced portfolio and will be offered in the same cities shortly after the initial single-pair HDSL thrust, he said.

The cities slated for initial service include Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Service will be expanded regionwide by the end of the year.

Pricing and other final details are not available yet but it is likely the modems will be rented as part of a bundled high-speed package, Glynn said.