Archives

February 2003 Issue

MAXIMIZE

Talkin' VoIP: First or Second Line?

Editor's note: Welcome to the debut of "Maximize." In this monthly department you'll learn how cable engineers are using the latest broadband technologies to drive new services and revenues.

This is the latest in a half-decade of make-or-break years for VoIP and the cable industry. At least it's kicked off to a good start. In December, Cablevision Systems reportedly said it planned to roll out a trial on Long Island, N.Y., by mid-year. The company is said to be planning a flat rate of less than $40 per month, with fixed costs of about $150 per customer. Cablevision would not comment on the project, which was reported in the daily newspaper Newsday.

An important issue during 2003 will be whether operators aim at primary line service--which involves backup powering--or second line service, says Jason Bazinet, a senior equity analyst at JP Morgan. "The old battle was circuit switched vs. Internet protocol (IP). The new question will be, 'Do we provide backup power or not?'"

That issue, at least, seems to favor primary line service.

Today, VoIP backup batteries located in the primary device housing "easily" offer four hours of service, Mark Dzuban, executive vice president at Cedar Point Networks, says. Formerly, a separate lunchbox-size unit was necessary to achieve that length of backup power. Today's batteries have three-to-five year lifespans and can alert the network when they are running out of steam. During those years, Dzuban says, it is possible to assess whether a voice market exists and, if it does, build a permanent network-supplied backup power infrastructure.

The bottom line may be that it makes financial sense to offer primary line service or skip voice entirely. "If the service is marketed as a second-line service, the consumer immediately expects to pay a much lower price," Stan Brovont, vice president of marketing at Arris Broadband, explains. "I don't believe the capital savings to operators from offering second-line services are greater than the discount the consumer expects. In other words, the ROI gets worse, not better."

--Carl Weinschenk

Cable/CE HDTV Pact: What You Should Know

Almost all the technical specifications used in the national high definition TV (HDTV) agreement announced recently are based on Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) standards. So, if you're an SCTE member, you have easy and free access to them. "If I were a technical person on the operator side, at the very least, I'd read them," Steve Oksala, the Society's vice president of standards, recommends.

Under the agreement made by cable ops and consumer electronics (CE) companies, consumers who buy new HDTV sets will be able to receive cable programming through an easy plug-and-play connection--without a separate box. Along with some content-protection specs, experts say this is a great first step toward speeding the transition to HD.

The pact "breaks down the biggest obstacle to the transition to HDTV," Gary Shapiro, Consumer Electronics Association president/CEO, says. At deadline, there was no word on whether the agreement would pass the necessary Federal Communications Commission muster.

Two-way work needed

The agreement doesn't cover two-way services like video-on-demand, so subs still will need another box for those services, but cable and CE companies already have agreed to work together to set standards for interactivity, Comcast Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning Mark Coblitz, reports. SCTE's Oksala tells Communications Technology that the process could take a couple of years, and he expects SCTE standards to be a fundamental aspect of any two-way agreements that develop.

For access to the six SCTE standards involved in the one-way agreement (SCTE 26, 28, 40, 41, 54 and 65), visit www.scte.org/standards/index.cfm?pID=59.

--Laura Hamilton

NEWSBYTES

"Charter launched its educational and customer service information TV channel with Adtec's Soloist2-S-DVD MPEG2 playback system. Charter is using its digital equipment in 180 of the MSO's largest headends, Adtec says.

"Time Warner Cable will use nCUBE's Gigabit Ethernet transport technology for its VOD service in El Paso and Corpus Christi, Texas. These systems serve 65,000 digital subs.

"CableLabs certified its first PacketCable VoIP devices (Arris and Toshiba) and CableHome 1.0 home-networking gateways (LinkSys and Netgear).

"Arescom, which provides high-speed Internet access to the hospitality industry, plans to add IP VOD service to its in-room wired and wireless offerings.

"The Consumer Electronics Association says 304,920 digital TV units were sold during November 2002, a 48 percent increase over the same period the prior year. It expects unit sales will total 2.5 million for the year.

Back to February 2003 Issue

Access Intelligence's CABLE GROUP
Communications Technology | CableFAX Daily | CableFAX's CableWORLD | CT's Pipeline
CableFAX Magazine | CableFAX databriefs | Broadband Leaders Retreat | CableFAX Leaders Retreat