Technology - May 2000

Teleconnections

by Jennifer Rachel Baumer

Coming Together

Partnerships, acquisitions and expansions take place in Nevada’s telecommunications industry Nevada Bell expands services

In Reno, Nevada Bell’s DSL service is expanding almost as quickly as the service itself operates. DSL — digital subscriber line — allows users to surf the Internet at speeds up to 200 times faster than a standard dial-up modem, and the always-on feature bypasses dial-up delays and busy signals. DSL also enables a variety of applications, including streaming video and audio, distance learning and interactive online gaming.

More than 12 million homes and businesses throughout SBC’s (Nevada Bell’s parent company) service area can now receive DSL service. In February alone, the company’s subsidiaries launched the service into approximately 50 new markets, including nearly 20 in the Nevada Bell region. The service will reach another 300 markets by year’s end, all as a result of the Project Pronto initiative, which entails bringing high speed Internet service to as many customers as possible. By 2002, DSL service should be available to 80 percent of SBC’s customers.

The upshot for SBC is that it’s expected to become the country’s largest single broadband provider. The company is already the nation’s leading DSL provider, with 169,000 DSL lines sold through the end of 1999.

SBC acquires Sterling Commerce

Less close to home, SBC has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sterling Commerce, Inc., one of the world’s leading providers of e-business integration solutions and a company that, in the United States, serves 487 of the Fortune 500 companies. Sterling Commerce’s software and services allow customers to build e-communities, integrate business processes and exchange information within and between enterprises worldwide. Since business-to-business e-commerce is expected to grow from $200 billion in 2000 to $2.5 trillion in 2004 (according to International Data Corporation), SBC’s acquisition of Sterling Commerce is an-other step in a series of initiatives to provide customers with end-to-end data and Internet-driven solutions and services.

Sprint PCS, UhiquiTel Holdings Inc. expand management agreement

The nation’s fastest growing wireless. provider, Sprint PCS offers the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide network, with service to more than 4,000 communities and cities nationwide. In January, Sprint PCS announced a significant expansion of its affiliation management agreement with UbiquiTel Holdings, Inc. The original agreement provided for future coverage of the Reno and Lake Tahoe areas, including coverage along I-SO west into Auburn, Calif. The build-out of the wireless network through the region will benefit customers in existing markets adjacent to expansion areas such as San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas.

During the four-month transition period, UbiquiTel will expand and enlarge the service area and assume management responsibility for existing Sprint PCS Service and Network Operations in Spokane, Wash., and will operate and market its network as a Sprint PCS service, using the same network hardware and Sprint PCS phones.

UbiquiTel is described as a consortium of wireless telecom companies whose focus is on extending Sprint PCS wireless telecommunication services to second-and third-tier markets. Sprint itself is the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network in the country.

Churchill County Telephone, SourceNet engineer DSL network for rural Nevada

In a smaller communications arena, Churchill County Telephone/CC Communications company, while serving a much smaller region than the bigger players, is keeping up in all areas. The only county-owned telephone company in the U.S., the business has served Churchill County since 1889; of the approximately 1,350 independent telephone companies in the country, Churchill County Telephone is ranked 106th based on annual revenues and access lines. Providing service to outlying areas such as Fallon, the company features its own cellular, Internet, paging and long distance services, and offers advanced data services such as ADSL, SDSL, ISDN and T-l. Churchill County Telephone is also working with a Reno-based Internet company, SourceNet, to utilize DSL technology for engineering a network that will simultaneously provide high-speed Internet access, phone service, broadcast and cable programming and video-on-demand service, all over standard telephone lines. In 1999, the company also completed a state-of-the-art video conferencing center combining broadcast quality video with high-speed digital telephony equipment allowing people in different locations to collaborate face-to-face electronically and share information through data, documents, sound and picture.