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New firm joins local high speed Net market
By Bill Koenig
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
INDIANAPOLIS (March 14, 2000) -- Still another player wants a piece of the Indianapolis high-speed Internet access market.
Flashcom Inc., of Huntington Beach, Calif., said Monday that it's entering the Indianapolis market with Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, service.
The company will compete against other newcomers to the high-speed Internet market
in Indianapolis, including local phone company Ameritech and Comcast, a provider
of cable TV service in Marion County.
Another competitor will be Digital Access Inc. of Philadelphia, which says it will build a
fiber-optic network by early 2001 that will offer high-speed Internet service as well as
local and long-distance telephone service.
Flashcom will piggyback on Ameritech's existing lines. The California firm is already
accepting orders and says it expects its first customers to start receiving its DSL
high-speed service in three to five weeks.
Flashcom's prices start at $49.95 a month. Flashcom serves about 50 metropolitan areas.
The company, like its competitors, is counting on consumer frustration over the slow speed of traditional Internet access to trigger rapid growth.
DSL can be 15 times or more faster than traditional dial-up Internet services.
"We think DSL is going to have very extensive (market) penetration in the future," said
Vane Clayton, Flashcom's vice president of marketing.
The main competitor to DSL is cable Internet access. Comcast in Indianapolis began
offering its high-speed Internet service late last year.
The cable company charges between $40 and $50 a month, depending on whether a
customer is already a cable television subscriber.
Ameritech is coming out with a DSL service of its own later this year, but hasn't
announced specific prices.
"We think DSL is going to have very extensive (market) penetration in the future." said
Vane Clayton, Flashcom's vice president of marketing.
© 2000 Indiana Newspapers Inc. AP materials © 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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