Broadwing drops SDSL from menu

ATLANTA (TELEPHONY EXCLUSIVE)--Broadwing executives said today that they would no longer be offering synchronous DSL service to business customers and that they will port existing customers to a higher-speed service for the same price.

The decision to drop SDSL comes in light of the failure of NorthPoint Communications, which was providing the service to Broadwing on a wholesale basis. After NorthPoint halted operations in April, Broadwing initially ported over existing customers to Rhythms NetConnections’ service. However, in assessing the market, the company felt the SDSL service didn’t fit well with its business customers’ needs.

"We really had made tremendous in-roads with it," said Justin Lupul, director of IP services for Broadwing. "I’m not convinced that DSL is going to be a compelling play for the business user. Plus the price point for [direct Internet access] have come down so much in the last six to eight months."

Another problem with SDSL was the provisioning, Lupul said.

"A lot of the edge devices were difficult and buggy. The installation processes weren’t mature."

Broadwing will allow existing SDSL customers to transfer their service over to a fractional DS-1 for the same price. In some cases, Lupul said, customers may opt to fall back to a dial-up service.
Vince Vittore is Executive Editor for Telephony. He can be reached at vvittore@intertec.com.