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mPhase: Where Glass and Copper Meet TV

Can a company born from Defense Department technology get copper to act like coax even after it passes through glass? If so, it could turn the table on the incumbents and on AOL, by allowing every provider to offer TV over DSL (TVoDSL?).

by Patricia Fusco
of internetnews.com

Several major broadcasting networks this week joined mPhase Technologies Inc. ongoing tests for delivering television programming over digital subscriber lines.

Additional agreements were struck between mPhase (OTC:BB: XDSL) and CNBC, MSNBC, FOX Sports, and others. The networks are interested in testing mPhase's ability to deliver television signals over a twisted pair of copper wires.

TVoDSL
mPhase's flagship Traverser Digital Video and Data Delivery System enables the simultaneous high-bandwidth transmission of voice, data and digital TV over DSL.

In addition to the major TV networks currently under agreement with mPhase, including A&E, BBC, C-SPAN, Comedy Central, STARZ!, and others, the additional networks are part of an ongoing experiment being conducted by Hart Communications, Inc. in Hartwell, Georgia.

Hart Communications is the final destination for the mPhase joint venture with AlphaStar International Inc. initially formed in March to establish and distribute broadband television services over copper.

Currently, satellite stations located at mPhase's headquarters in Connecticut receive television network content from AlphaStar. mPhase grabs the programming content, and then reformats and compresses the data for transport to the CLEC in Georgia.

But the real news is that mPhase's Traverser DVDDS Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line technology is on the verge of enabling broadband providers to simultaneously transmit high-speed Internet access to customers, along with up to 400 channels of digital television programming and traditional voice lines (telephone service).

How'd this happen?
So if mPhase has attained a breakthrough in digital technology, why does its system for getting copper to act like coax remain uncontested by rival firms?

David Klimeck, mPhase chief technical officer, said mPhase remains amazed that competitors are not testing systems of their own to deliver digital broadcast signals over DSL.

"When Bell Core first developed ADSL in 1987, they did so to deliver video over copper," Klimeck said. "The only problem was that early telco tests failed. But then DSL developed and the Internet boomed and we're making RDSL work the well Bell Core intended."

The industry favors streaming media systems for delivering audio and video content over the Internet. Essentially, mPhase's system is video over IP. It isn't trying to reinvent streaming media technology, so telecom firms and DSL providers have been slow to embrace a technology tainted by previous failures.

Children of a lesser god
Klimeck maintains that mPhase's digital video delivery system is a distant relative of first generation DSL services.

"The mPhase system will operate over Bellcore-specific customer service areas within 12,000-feet of a central office to digital loop carrier or stand alone remote terminal," Klimeck said. "All we need is the bandwidth to feed the system and access to the copper wire. Our product is native MPEG3 transport at the digital video broadcast standard and operates like a digital TV headend in the sky."

The system seems relatively simple in that customers are provided with a set-top box that acts as a downlink to the central office, which acts like a digital TV headend through mPhase's Traverser. The receiving end runs output through multiplexers that draw up to the fiber, where an electrical to optical conversion is completed.

According to Klimeck, standard off-the-shelf technology can provide 48 customers with digital programming over one stand of fiber, without having to do wave division multiplexing to channelize broadcast programming.

When WDM technology is added, a single optic fiber permits three layers of program packages to simultaneously traverse the system, which allows mPhase to offer up to 151 channels over a single glass strand. The fiber connection goes to a mPhase Traverser access shelf to serve 144 subscribers. The system can be stacked, so a central office can serve several hundred subscribers, adding access shelves as it grows the service.

The people are ready
Klimeck said that most telecom firms have fiber capacity ready, and the companies that don't are willing to put glass in the ground when they realize the potential revenue mPhase Traverser can create for their operations.

"DSL providers can charge $40 to $50 per subscriber, just like cable services," Klimeck said. "Our business model assumes that programming acquisition costs will be equivalent to a cable company's, but a telecom firm's operating expense is lower because they're just using twisted pair, not splitters and amplifiers like cable systems require. Additional savings are realized through bundling voice, high-speed data and digital TV service together in one bill."

Klimeck said current tests of the technology are performing well for Hart Communications. In addition to the CELC test, mPhase is examining a point-to-point linking method with Pioneer communications in Kansas, after having completed the same type of review in Turkey. The firm also has new technical reviews coming up with Telmex in Mexico, so mPhase is making inroads with international and regional carriers.

mPhase is also completing pre-production manufacturing work with Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) to coordinate a high volume launch of its Traverser campaign, tentatively scheduled for the first quart of next year.

The mPhase development provides hope for CLECs and broadband providers facing potential ruin at the hands of incumbent carriers undercutting DSL residential pricing.

While the DSL space has turned predatory, mPhase is poised to grant the companies a reprieve by allowing CLECs and broadband providers to offer customizable voice, data, and video services to businesses and residential users alike.

Related information
Technical document with diagrams of how the mPhase system works: http://www.mphasetech.com/html/pdf.htm







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