AT&T Canada Launches DSL-enabled Services - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Dec 27, 1999

AT&T Canada, Canada's largest facilities-based competitive provider of local and long distance, voice, data and Internet communications services, Monday announced that it has launched an ADSL Internet access service for businesses, the first in a planned rollout of a series of DSL-enabled services.

AT&T Canada's Dedicated ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) service offers business customers high-speed access to connect their local area networks to the Internet. This fully managed, "always on" connection includes domain name service coupled with 20 e-mail boxes at the customer's domain, a router and the ADSL termination unit.

DSL-enabled services provide fast, secure Internet or corporate network access digitally over standard copper telephone wires at lower cost than traditional dedicated private line service. The AT&T Canada Internet DSL service offering provides up to 2.2 Mbps downstream (to the customer location) and up to 640 Kbps upstream (from the customer location) at approximately the same cost businesses incur today for a 128 Kbps ISDN Internet connection.

"With the introduction of AT&T Canada's ADSL service, our customers that are not able to directly access our local fibre optic networks will now have an extremely robust and competitive Internet access alternative," said Ron Close, President, AT&T Canada Internet and E-Business Services. "ADSL meets the growing needs for faster access to multimedia information. By providing a fully managed service package, customers will not have to incur capital expenditures or be concerned with maintenance or obsolescence."

AT&T Canada's current deployment of DSL technology will be augmented by plans to equip all of its approximately 90 collocations in incumbent telephone company switching centres by the end of 2000. These collocation centres are directly connected to AT&T Canada's 17,000 kilometre broadband local and long haul national fibre optic network. Upon completion, this DSL technology deployment will give AT&T Canada the potential to launch DSL-enabled services to approximately 80% of the business access lines in Canada. Throughout 2000, AT&T Canada expects to launch a full suite of DSL-enabled services to business customers across Canada that aren't able to directly connect to its local fibre optic networks for high speed broadband Internet and data communications services.

AT&T Canada is Canada's largest facilities-based competitive voice, data and Internet telecommunications provider. Created in June 1999 from the merger of AT&T Canada Long Distance Services, MetroNet Communications, Netcom Canada and ACC TelEnterprises, AT&T Canada brings together the country's largest competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), three of Canada's leading competitive Internet Service Providers (ISP), and Canada's pioneer in competitive long distance. Deploying the most advanced fibre-optic networking and digital switching platforms, AT&T Canada offers customers across the country a full suite of local and long distance voice, data and Internet services - with excellent customer service, competitive pricing, and sales and service locations from coast-to-coast. AT&T Canada is a public company which trades on the Toronto stock exchange under the symbol TEL.B and on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol ATTC. Visit AT&T Canada's web site, www.attcanada.com, for more information about the company.