MGC nearly ready to roll out bundled voice, data service

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 11:14 a.m.

Two local telephone companies serving Las Vegas are racing to put high-speed Internet access in their customers' hands.

Las Vegas-based MGC Communications Inc. will unveil its always-on Internet connection service to businesses by the end of this month and in residences by the end of the year. The system provides Internet access through existing telephone lines.

MGC hasn't determined how much the new service will cost, but company spokesmen say it will be competitive with other planned Internet access service. MGC says its service will be the first offered to small businesses and residential customers.

The company's plans were unveiled in April when MGC received a $47.5 million equity investment from Providence Equity Partners Inc. of Rhode Island. Analysts say the investment and MGC's DSL plan should charge the company's sales in Las Vegas, Southern California, Chicago, Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

MGC plans to introduce the DSL product in Las Vegas before taking it to its other markets.

DSL technology breaks voice and data information down into digital packets that can be transmitted over traditional copper wires.

David Clark, senior vice president of sales and marketing for MGC, said his company's offering will place a small box in a business or residence linking lines into the building with telephone extensions and the computer.

Other hardware and the software required to make the system work are embedded in MGC's network.

The MGC residential unit can serve four telephone lines and one high-speed Internet connection simultaneously while a small business connection would serve eight phone lines and the Internet output.

Clark said the main advantage of DSL is speed. Calling the system "a poor man's T1," Clark said the DSL operates at speeds equivalent to a T1 connection.

A T1 line operates at 1.54 megabits per second over coaxial or fiber-optic cable. That means a sophisticated webpage that takes up to a minute to finish loading can appear in seconds via a DSL line.

"This system will offer speeds out customers have never seen before," Clark said.

In addition, Clark said MGC's system is plug-and-play with few connections a customer will have to make.

Three suppliers for the MGC system have been announced. The company said Copper Mountain Networks Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., would deploy DSL equipment in MGC markets.

MGC also announced that Turnstone System Inc.'s Copper CrossConnect CX100 would be used for other components of the system. Turnstone is based in Mountain View, Calif.

And MGC is using Santa Clara, Calif.-based TollBridge Technologies' products to deliver the bundled voice and data services to small business customers.

Sprint, meanwhile, has begun sales for its DSL product, which it says will be 50 times faster than a 28.8-kilobytes-per-second analog modem.

Partnering with EarthLink as its Internet service provider, Sprint announced in August that it would offer DSL in Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., after introducing it in Charlottesville, Va., in May. Monthly service will be offered for $45.

Sprint operates a national fiber-optic network that will enable DSL customers to upgrade to its Integrated On-Demand Network. Sprint ION, a faster connection than DSL, is expected to be available in Las Vegas next year.

Two other companies also offer high-speed Internet access.

Nextlink offers access on a fiber-optic network, but serves only businesses.

Cox Communications Inc. provides Internet service to homes and businesses through a fiber-optic system that delivers cable television services. Cox has nearly completed an upgrade that will place high-speed Internet access in most Las Vegas-area neighborhoods.