ISPs' Rollout of DSL Leave Predictions in the Dust

ISP-Planet Staff
[December 3, 1999]

While it's no great surprise that ISPs are racing to deploy xDSL service, the pace of the rollout has surprised even industry experts, according to a report released today by Cahners In-Stat Group.

Approximately 31 percent of the roughly 4,850 ISPs in the U.S. claim to offer DSL, the study said. The research firm anticipates that by the close of 1999, ISPs will have deployed as many as 1.35 million unique, revenue-generating xDSL lines.

"Web-wait-weary consumers and cost-conscious businesses have leapt at the chance to improve their Internet performance and avoid other forms of costly dedicated access, but few in the industry expected their leap to be of such Carl Lewis proportions," said In-Stat senior analyst Rick Miller. "The DSL rollout is looking like a stampede, as ISPs rush to compete with cable companies and find ways to boost their operating margins." Line deployment will surpass the one million mark by yearend, Miller said, adding that growth would be even more rapid if it weren't for equipment makers' and carriers' inabilities to meet demand for hardware and live lines.

The Cahners report, titled The High-Speed Stampede: U.S. ISPs Roll Out xDSL Service Faster than Expected, presents the following additional findings:

• Through sheer scope of coverage, RBOCs win ISPs' mindshare when they look for a DSL carrier partner.
• On a dollar-per-dollar basis, national data CLECs are taking more than their fair share of DSL network service provider revenue.
• GTE and Cisco were named the preferred DSL carrier and equipment partners respectively.

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