Current Technologies and DirectTV Announce Broadband Agreement
Big news was announced today in the world of broadband of powerlines (BPL). Current Group LLC reached a wholesale agreement to provide braodband and VOIP services under the DirectTV brand name. This partnership marks one of the first deployments of BPL services with a major communications provider. Under the agreement, the services will be available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by the end of 2007 or early 2008. Current Technologies already is working with TXU to install equipment such as automated meters for "smart grid" services.
With this announcement, I can't help but wonder why these two companies are choosing the Dallas-Ft Worth area? The biggest hurdle I see for Current and DirectTV is competition. They will have to compete with cable MSOs Charter and Time Warner. They will also be battling fiber and DSL services from Verizon and AT&T. Details on what Internet speeds will be available have not been announced. However, it will be very difficult for this BPL solution to compete on the basis of speed. It is assumed that Current and DirectTV will compete as a low price alternative.
It is interesting that this populous market was chosen. For years, one of the main selling points of BPL was the possibility to provide broadband services to areas that cable and telcos have not penetrated. With satellite being a popular chose for video service in rural areas, this seemed like a logical broadband strategy to pursue. We will see if this new partnership will begin to expand to rural areas in the future.
With this announcement, I can't help but wonder why these two companies are choosing the Dallas-Ft Worth area? The biggest hurdle I see for Current and DirectTV is competition. They will have to compete with cable MSOs Charter and Time Warner. They will also be battling fiber and DSL services from Verizon and AT&T. Details on what Internet speeds will be available have not been announced. However, it will be very difficult for this BPL solution to compete on the basis of speed. It is assumed that Current and DirectTV will compete as a low price alternative.
It is interesting that this populous market was chosen. For years, one of the main selling points of BPL was the possibility to provide broadband services to areas that cable and telcos have not penetrated. With satellite being a popular chose for video service in rural areas, this seemed like a logical broadband strategy to pursue. We will see if this new partnership will begin to expand to rural areas in the future.
posted by Chris Roden at 9:15 AM
1 Comments:
Hi there. I would like to comment on your blog, which I by the way find very interesting. Telecommunication services offered by Direct TV are of poor quality at the present time. In the beginning, everything was perfect and now it is a real rip off. On this great site www.pissedconsumer.com where I wanted to post my complaint I found out that I am not alone in this trouble.
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