Fast-Track growth: Sprint Adds DSL Service to 75 More Areas

FAYETTEVILLE — Some 75 additional towns, communities and surrounding areas in Eastern North Carolina now can receive Sprint FastConnect DSL service.

The high-speed Internet service is now available in new and/or additional locations in and around Aurora, Chocowinity, Clayton, Clinton, Dunn, Elizabeth City, Fayetteville (25 new sites), Greenville, Havelock, Jacksonville, Kernersville, Morehead City, Oriental, Pollocksville, Raeford, Sneads Ferry, Swansboro and Washington, among others.

"We're continuing our aggressive deployment of DSL across our North Carolina service area," says Sprint Spokesman Tom Matthews. "Several of the locations -- have been expedited through our partnership with e-NC."

The e-NC Authority, formerly known as the Rural Internet Access Authority, was tasked with encouraging high-speed Internet access across the state three years ago by the N.C. General Assembly and armed with $30 million from MCNC to pursue the initiative. e-NC provided incentives to various phone companies and other service providers to hasten the spread of high-speed Internet access.

So far, the investment has paid off as North Carolina has jumped to 11th place in terms of high-speed access lines for Internet access, according to figures compiled by the FCC and tracked by e-NC. The number of high-speed lines hit 594,039 as of December 2002, a ten-fold increase from 1999.

DSL service spreading fast

Sprint now has high-speed DSL service in most of its host offices and many remote offices, with a total of about 90 percent of its exchanges being equipped for DSL service at this point.

"We're seeing significant demand, and in many areas, we fill up the deployed cards very quickly," adds Matthews. "We're aggressively rolling out the technology across our service area."

Matthews says he expects Sprint to have DSL in every exchange by the end of 2004, although some rural areas of those exchanges will be "a while" in having FastConnect available to them.

Sprint FastConnect DSL provides users with high-bandwidth Internet access and an "instant-on" broadband connection to eliminate multiple dial-ups. It also allows customers to use the Internet and talk on the telephone or send a fax at the same time...all over a single, existing telephone line.

Home, business pricing deals available

Residential customers can sign up for Sprint FastConnect DSL for $39.99 per month for 12 months. Afterwards, the monthly rate is $49.99.

Sprint FastConnect DSL also can provide voice and data simultaneously over one connection.

Business customers who agree to two years of Sprint FastConnect DSL will receive two months free. After that, the monthly rate for small businesses begins at $49.99.

In certain locations, businesses also can purchase symmetrical DSL, which runs advanced business applications more efficiently in three symmetric speeds.

"While some companies are talking about 'substitution' of wirelines with wireless, that only represents about 1 percent of our disconnects," explains Matthews. "The majority are from second lines that no longer are needed because of FastConnect availability."

Sprint: www.sprint.com

e-NC: www.e-nc.org