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SBC Tests 40 Mbps to the Home

SBC Communications is getting 40 megabits per second into the home with 2,500-foot copper loops and 25 mbps at 4,000 feet in an early Project Lightspeed test in 40 homes in San Antonio, chief operating officer Randall Stephenson said during a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst conference last week.

�The technology is performing well,� he said. �It�s getting better and better as we get into it. I sat in a home recently and went through channel changing, watching the U.S. Open. The product is good." SBC has yet to test HDTV -- current trials are in standard-definition, he said. SBC plans a full market trial by December, then a full product launch next May or June.

�I rest very comfortable that we can get the bandwidth to the side of the house,� Stephenson added. �I rest comfortable that we can get the service up. The encryption is working." Stephenson said the slight delays in deployment have been based on integration and chip-set issues. �The new hardware chip set is the one thing that�s caused the delay more than any other issue,� he added. �The long pole in the tent is just the integration exercise and bringing all this together."

On content, Stephenson said, �We�ll have a very competitive lineup. We have content deals done in every major class of content, and we have time to work through that."

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