DSL Forum Quarterly Meeting Focuses On Home Networks in the Wake of Explosive DSL Subscriber Growth.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 2002

Energy was high at the DSL Forum meeting in San Francisco as members learned the third quarter 2002 global DSL deployment numbers: 30.6 million online with DSL broadband. These latest numbers confirm the growing lead that DSL has over all other broadband options. The Summit program focused on applications that will take the industry closer to its goal of 200 million subscribers worldwide by 2005, such as telecommuting and home networking.

According to Bill Rodey, chairman of the DSL Forum, "There is a triple benefit that DSL delivers to businesses seeking to improve productivity, cost-effectiveness and efficiency through tele-working: data, voice and video services delivered over a single telephone line to each member of a remote working team."

Home networking provides valuable benefits to telecommuters and online households, allowing several family members to share a single broadband DSL connection as well as printers, scanners and files. While the kids do research for homework, play games online or chat with friends on the Internet, the parents can shop, manage emails, hold a business videoconference or share files with work colleagues. DSL broadband enabled home networks are already delivering many key services: entertainment; home office; home security and surveillance; household lighting and temperature controls; additional voice services and medical monitoring.

"Home networking is one of the strongest drivers for the next step towards the global mass market," said DSL Forum Summit presenter Peter Macaulay of East by North. "Numerous essential daily activities can be facilitated by a home network. In combination with a DSL broadband connection, tasks can be managed and reported remotely, giving you control of your house while you are away, or in the case of medical monitoring, allowing experts to check and advise on the treatment of home-based patients."

With many new multi-media content and applications becoming available, the broadband DSL growth rate is approaching 20%, putting DSL on track for 36 million users globally by the end of 2002.

Keynote speaker at the DSL Forum summit meeting was Assemblywoman Sara Reyes, chairperson, California State Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce. She said that DSL-educated consumers, businesses and legislators are essential to continuing growth in adoption of the technology. "One of DSL Forum's critical roles is to bring in best practices from the leading DSL countries and to educate policy makers on new ways to create strong technology environments for our people," she said.

DSL Forum's chairman, Bill Rodey announced that an analysis of the key drivers and differences between market conditions in the leading DSL countries and the rest of the world is underway by industry analyst Point Topic for the Forum. "This analysis will help us to share best practice and lessons with infrastructure owners, broadband service and content providers as well as regulators, governments and other policy makers," he said.

Geographic reach is an essential ingredient in a ubiquitous, mass-market for broadband DSL, to minimize any risk of a social `digital divide'. "There are now technical solutions to expand geographic reach, providing effective routes to delivering broadband DSL to rural communities," says Rodey. "Clearly, the opportunity now exists to reach beyond metropolitan areas."

In the USA, adoption of broadband DSL in rural areas is greater than ever before according to OPASTCO, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies in the USA. "We expect subscribers to increase as new markets are placed in service and rural customers desire the added benefits of DSL service," said Lynn Merrill, OPASTCO's technical representative to the DSL Forum who shared findings from his organization's recent member survey. "Our members provide broadband service to 77 percent of their exchanges - all of them outside of major metropolitan areas. The adoption rate for the service is at seven percent - more than double the current global penetration of DSL subscribers (3.20% of main telephone lines by 30 September 2002)."

During the working meetings of more than 200 international members of the DSL Forum, technical groups discussed a wide range of topics including migration to next generation network architectures, VDSL element management and auto-configuration matters. Meanwhile the marketing teams focused on routes to achieving even greater awareness and understanding among consumers and policy makers of the benefits that DSL broadband can deliver to the world's homes, businesses and public sector organizations.

About DSL Forum

DSL Forum is a consortium of nearly 250 leading industry telecommunications, equipment, computing, networking and service provider companies. Established in 1994, the Forum continues its drive for a mass market for broadband DSL, to deliver the benefits of this technology to end users around the world over existing copper telephone wire infrastructures. In eight years, DSL Forum has moved through defining the core Digital Subscriber Line technology to delivering maximum effectiveness in its deployment and use. More information on DSL Forum is available from its industry site www.dslforum.org. Information tailored to end-users is available on www.dsllife.com.

DSL - more than a phone line . . .it's a global solution.