This section is from the document '/news-archives/clari/nb/telecom'.

From clari.nb.telecom Sat Jun  6 20:22:49 1992
From: newsbytes@clarinet.com
Date: 6 Jun 92 02:14:37 GMT
Newsgroups: clari.nb.telecom
Subject: Bell Rollout of ISDN Delayed Again 06/05/92

LIVINGSTON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1992 JUN 5 (NB) -- A report 
from Bellcore, the research consortium for the seven regional Bell 
companies, claims 55.6 percent of the Bells' 114.9 million access 
lines will be able to have ISDN service by the end of 1994. 
Earlier claims from the Bells were that ISDN service would be 
available to half the nation's business phones by the end of 
1992.

The report took an optimistic view of the delay, claiming the 
prediction more than doubles the actual 22.42 percent of the 
105.5 million lines where ISDN service was available at the end 
of 1991. Projections in individual regions range from 21 percent 
to 87 percent. The first call using the National ISDN standard 
from Bellcore won't be made until November, however. 

National ISDN was proposed a year ago to unify the way the technology 
is implemented in switches by Northern Telecom and AT&T, the leading 
providers. Both companies announced immediate support for the 
standard, but software takes time to rewrite, and firms which 
want the service today still must ask what kind of switch to which
they're connecting. Generally, regular ISDN business lines, called 
"Basic Rate Interfaces" in the trade, cost 30 percent more than 
analog phone lines, offering two digital channels of up to 64,000 
bits/second each and a 16,000 bit/second signaling channel, which 
can be used for voice, fax, data, or video conferencing, as 
required. 

The new document also includes plans of Cincinnati Bell Telephone 
Company, Rochester Telephone Company, AT&T, and MCI, as well as 
testing programs for ISDN telephones, computers, and other ISDN 
end-user equipment. 

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920605/Press Contact: Bellcore, Barbara 
Kaufman, 201/740-4324)