Monday, January 05, 2009

 

LUS announces FTTH pricing

Some time in the last week of December, Lafayette Utility Services announced Voice Video, Internet and Phone prices. They announced three separate tiers for each of the three services, but subscribers are free to mix and match, e.g., the lowest tier of video and phone service with the highest Internet speed.

Here's the details [source]. LUS claims that there are NO additional add-on fees or taxes. Can they do that? The fine print says, "Monthly rates shown are available to residential customers only and do not include required taxes or fees." (Thanks, John.)

Internet
10 Mbps (up/down) - $28.95
30 Mbps (up/down) - $44.95
50 Mbps (up/down) - $57.95

Video
80 Channels - $39.95
250 digital Channels - $63.31
250 Channels and Includes HD and Premium Movie Channels (Suites) - $98.09

Phone
$15.95 -- (inludes 3-way calling, call waiting and other features) plus 5 cents per minute continental US long distance
$28.95 -- (extra features, including caller ID) plus 5 cents per minute continental US long distance- $28.95
$43.95 -- many features plus unlimited continental US long distance

Also, check out the Q&A with LUS leader Terry Huval, where I stumbled onto this pricing announcement, hosted by The Advertiser, the local newspaper. I wish the leaders of investor owned telcos would be this candid and open!

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Comments:
Wait... 85 dollar month for a basic Triple play offer ?!

Am I missing something or are internet connections that expensive on your side of the Atlantic??
 
@Luk -- yup, at $85 it is a pretty good deal. 10 up/10 down for $29 is awesome.
 
David,

I think the import of the bit at the bottom of the page ("Monthly rates shown are available to residential customers only and do not include required taxes or fees.") is that these prices are before? taxes and and fees. My read is that there will be such additional costs.

And yes, Tery Huval's openness on this forum is pretty remarkable. If you travel to the original story you'll find that what has been digested at the page you link to is only part of the interesting stuff.
 
It also appears they will have a HD DVR option with the roll out. Additional HD Receivers just $5 extra per month.
 
You can't provide 10 Mbps for that little per month. Backbone bandwidth AT THE MAJOR PEERING POINTS OF THE INTERNET is currently selling for at least $4 per Mbps per month, so the wholesale cost of such bandwidth would be $40 per month. And then there's the high cost of delivering via FTTH! The numbers are bogus.
 
New contracts for backbone Internet bandwidth at 1Gbps rates is going for $10/Mb from places like Level3 and Abovenet. Some ISPs are currently locked in old contracts at about $39/Mb

I don't know off hand what the current over subscription rates are for this scale of network (10Mbps at the edge). I presume that its no lower than 10x, and probably 100x.

So it would be quite economical to deliver these kinds of rates that LUS is proposing.And if there were any adult supervision in the regulatory envionrments, this could get even more rational by at least an order of magnitude.

The worst thing that could happen is for the CableTelcos to get a "bailout" and be subsidized for stealing the ratepayer / taxpayer built physical plant. Its time for real Divestiture!
 
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