No big Bell surprise

It shouldn't come as any surprise that the three Bell companies which have announced a broadband access strategy--BellSouth, SBC Communications and Verizon--have each taken a different approach.

In the more than 20 years that these companies first took baby steps as Bell entities, they have become increasingly divergent in their strategies. And while the trio was willing to team up as a Joint Procurement Consortium for local loop fiber gear, it was apparent from the outset that there are differing agendas and priorities among the three companies.

This is as it should be. Their existing networks are different, the geographical nature of their territories are different and the corporate cultures also differ.

It does seem ironic that BellSouth, the company who has done the most to push local loop fiber dating back to the dates of its visionary leader, Richard Snelling, is suddenly extolling the virtue of copper connections. On the other hand, what company is in a better position to know the potential pain of a fiber-to-the-premises network than a company that was experimenting with such networks 15 years ago?

Qwest Communications hasn't yet delivered its bold vision statement, although CTO Balan Nair has stated that it will be a fiber-to-the-node approach, possibly similar to SBC's. Again, the company has precedence for its thinking. The problems of a grandiose plan to rewire Omaha, Neb., in the mid-1990s still reverberate in the hallways of the former US West. The last 100 feet of connectivity to the customer proved far more difficult than anyone imagined it would be, and Nair, for one, still cites that project as a primary reason for his company's reluctance to embrace FTTP.

To its credit, Verizon has been unwavering in its devotion to an all-fiber access network, but that hasn't stopped some skeptics from wondering if the company can overcome the many intricacies of running fiber into a home gateway, complete with battery backup and inside wiring to TVs and computers.

I suspect, when it's all said and done, we'll see BellSouth doing more FTTP than is being advertised and Verizon doing some of the copper configurations its Bell mates are touting. The ultimate prize is getting a large enough customer base to attract and deliver the content that will make the cash registers ca-ching. And that's something on which every Bell company agrees.

Email me at cwilson3@primediabusiness.com.