Ed Let: The Industry Speaks, Again
Welcome to the second edition of CT’s Communications Executive: An exclusive set of interviews with some of the top executives from MSOs around the world, the technology supplier community and at least one telco competitor and erstwhile next of kin. (Cheers, AT&T.)
On our cover is a veteran from the inaugural edition, and two newcomers. Last year Marwan Fawaz spoke with us about the "unique set of challenges" that he and his team faced at Adelphia." Fawaz is now facing another set of challenges in a company constrained by interest payments rather than bankruptcy claims. But fortune favors the bold, and we wish him and his team great success at Charter.
Also on the cover are Thomas Ee of StarHub and Dermot O’Carroll of Rogers Cable. With the so-called quadruple play moving ahead briskly in both companies, these leaders stand at the vanguard of cable’s evolution into full-service telecommunications providers. See interviews with Thomas Watson at ntl, Jan Vorstermans of Telenet and Keith Lawrence of Austar for further evidence that mobile and cable are not oxymorons.
Singapore’s StarHub also provides a glimpse of the industry’s bonded-channel future, with plans to launch a 100 Mbps service commercially by the end of the year (2006). Meanwhile, in Japan, J:COM‘s Shunzo Yamaguchi is talking about throughputs of 160 Mbps. Field trials now, commercial launch next year.
On the European front, EuroDOCSIS 3.0 is likewise moving ahead, with Telenet’s Vorstermans referencing downstream speeds of up to 200 Mbps; ntl’s Howard Watson, moving to extend the capability of "early release equipment" in ’07; com hem‘s Martin Kull eager to see "reasonably priced" EMTAs.
The state of next-gen DOCSIS in Europe and Asia is only one of the many stories lurking in these interviews. For more on North American cable, see our Q&A’s with Cox‘s Chris Bowick, Time Warner Cable‘s Mike LaJoie and Comcast‘s competitively minded recruit from AOL, John Schanz. And for someone with his finger on the pulse of technology here, there and everywhere, see Liberty Global‘s Tony Werner.
As we noted last year, making this kind of collection of voices available to our readers is a group effort. It requires the dedication and skill of our business, editorial and production teams; the support of those vendors (noted below in red) who sponsored this initiative; and the cooperation of the technology executives who shared their views. Thanks to all. Jonathan Tombes
Editor
[email protected] Index to online CE interviews Bassen, Dale; VTR GlobalCom
Bowick, Chris; Cox Communications
Fawaz, Marwan; Charter Communications
Glatz, Lorenz; Kabel Keutschland
LaJoie, Mike; Time Warner Cable
Lawrence, Keith; Austar Entertainment
Michaelsen, Jorgen; TDC Cable TV
O’Carroll, Dermot; Rogers Cable Communications
Van Weede, Caroline; Cable Europe
