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Home > An Introductory Look at the Project Lightspeed Initiative
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An Introductory Look at the Project Lightspeed Initiative
The telecommunications industry is seeing a shift in the way communications services are being packaged and delivered. High speed broadband Internet connectivity has opened the door for changes in common services such as digital cable, and even standard telephony services. Broadband television and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) make it easier to package communications services together with high speed broadband Internet service.

In association with making bundled broadband services readily available, SBC Communications Inc. has announced plans to introduce a service that would make digital TV, high speed broadband Internet and VoIP available to more than 18 million households via a new fiber-rich network that is in the works. Dubbed, “Project Lightspeed,” the new SBC service will take three of the most commonly purchased residential communications services and make them cheaper and more efficient for the consumer.

A Closer Look at Project Lightspeed

Project Lightspeed will create a new fiber-optic network. This is related to the FCC’s clarifying of broadband rules to make broadband networks readily available for smaller and more rural locations. The FCC decision makes Project Lightspeed possible because it eliminates all fiber regulations that previously stopped communications companies from creating such large-scale, fiber-based broadband networks.

The following are some facts about SBC’s Project Lightspeed:

  • Project Lightspeed provides IP-based television, high speed broadband Internet and VoIP.
  • Project Lightspeed will serve more than 18 million households via 38,800 miles of fiber-optic cable (this is more than two times the amount of fiber used to create the backbone of the SBC DSL network).
  • The total cost of Project Lightspeed will be somewhere between $4 billion and $6 billion.
  • Project Lightspeed is expected to be completed some time in 2007 and has been contracted out to Alcatel.

Advantages of Project Lightspeed

There are certain advantages associated with building a large-scale broadband network like Project Lightspeed. SBC and other communications companies looked for ways to run fiber networks prior to the FCC changes in regards to broadband.  However, with the prior regulations in place, it was too costly an operation on every level.

The advantage of Project Lightspeed is that SBC will only run fiber to the nodes in a given location. The last mile of connectivity will be bridged using other means. Some of the preliminary last mile bridges include the utilization of FTTP, ADSL2+ and VDSL technologies. SBC has been conducting their tests with the ADSL2+ technologies.

To get more information about Project Lightspeed or any of the SBC Communications Inc. products, visit the company Web site today at www.SBC.com.