VDSL2 on the way, and line sharing's return

The latest issue of Dave Burstein's DSL Prime is out (though not online yet), and he's got some tidbits on a few companies saying they'll ship pre-standard VDSL2 chips this year. Most chips are expected in 2005 and 2006. His take is that carriers (I think mostly overseas) need to compete with cable's higher speeds, and so are looking at this technology as a possible savior. In the States, the big carriers are concentrating more on fiber optics, it seems.

There's also a good item on the possible return of line sharing, which Covad in the U.S., and Yahoo BB in Japan used to make non-telco DSL affordable for consumers. The FCC killed line sharing in the U.S. last year, although the official expiration date isn't until later this year. As we've written here, Michael Powell is thinking about bringing it back, but Burstein's take on it is that the market has moved on, and the change probably won't make much of a difference to consumers.

Jim wrote a good story on Covad's future last week.

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