• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 14, 2004

SBC Communications Inc. said on Thursday that it will fast-track plans to build a new $4 billion to $6 billion fiber optics network. SBC now expects to build the network in three years rather than five, and estimates that the new network will enable nearly 50 percent of current customers--representing some 18 million homes--to access high-speed service.

"We're expecting plenty of our customers to take advantage of this new service and sign up for the super-high-speed access," Michael Balmoris, a San Antonio-based SBC representative, said.

SBC, the second largest U.S. local telephone carrier, reported in June that 4.3 million of its customers currently have DSL, and the company expects that number to exceed 5 million by the end of this year.

Geoff Ramsey, an industry analyst at eMarketer, predicts that 32.5 million U.S. households will have broadband by the end of the year, more than 40 million by the end of 2005, and more than 50 million by the end of 2006. "These numbers are impressive, but still insufficient to compete with the world," said Ramsey. "Other countries have really leapfrogged us technologically."