Grande Communications selects Marconi for $80 million deployment of Deep Fiber to the Austin – San Antonio corridor – Business – Brief Article
Marconi announced that it has signed a five-year, $80 million networking supply agreement with Grande Communications, a Texas-based broadband service provider. Marconi’s solution will bring optical fiber connectivity to within 750 feet of most of Grande’s customers, allowing the convenience of buying faster Internet, telephone and cable television services from a single provider. This agreement helps Marconi extend its leadership position in the deployment of Deep Fiber network access. Marconi already has over three million lines of fiber-based access capacity already deployed worldwide.
Grande chose Marconi’s Deep Fiber architecture over legacy copper- and coaxial-based systems because it enables greater network capacity and increased functionality without the requirement of periodically amplifying the signal. These factors significantly lower installation and maintenance costs for Grande while allowing the company to provide a greater variety and quality of services to their customers.
The Marconi solution, which is based on its DISC*S and Deep Fiber HFC access solutions and includes some multi-service optical transport equipment, will extend the high capacity and high-speed capabilities of fiber optic cable closer to residential and business properties. It will enable Grande’s residential and business customers to enjoy full-featured, Internet access at speeds of up to 50 times faster than dial-up modems, as well as voice and video services via a single broadband connection from Grande’s robust network.
Grande is currently deploying the Marconi solution as it builds the first broadband network for Texans along the 1-35 corridor and in the Houston area. Grande began offering services to neighborhoods in Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio, TX, in February 2001, and plans to provide bundled services to other Grande markets as additional sections of the network are completed. Grande currently has franchise approvals for 29 cities along the 1-35 Corridor, which allows the company to pass more than one million homes over the next five to seven years.
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