BellSouth on Tuesday said it chose telecommunications equipment makers Alcatel and Redback to boost broadband Internet speeds over its aging copper wire network.
The Baby Bell phone company said it will use Alcatel's 7330 DSLAM equipment and Redback's SmartEdge 800 Service Gateway to increase bandwidth throughout its network. Once in place, the equipment is expected to help BellSouth's broadband connections reach 12mbps--24mbps for homes with BellSouth's bonded-pair lines, serving two copper wires into each location.
The companies did not disclose terms of the deal, nor when the upgrades would be completed.
With the bandwidth upgrade, BellSouth hopes to eventually offer a package of services over a fast Internet pipe. Like the other Bells Verizon Communications, SBC Communications and Qwest Communications International, BellSouth plans to sell a package of cable-TV-like programming, Internet access and voice calling to its customers.
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Feb 8, 2005, 08:07 PM
