New fiber-optic networks to cut swath through Wisconsin - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The , Tulsa, and , Denver, plan to extend fiber-optic links from Chicagl to Milwaukee and then onto Minneapolis. Both companiess say they will activate their systems inlate 1999. The telecommunicationd companies will selltheir bandwidth, or capacity, on a wholesale basis to localp telephone exchange companies, long-distance companies and Internett service providers or directly to businessed that want to transmit data at high speeds. "Thre net effect is that more competition will lowedprices (for telecommunications services)," said Bob Venable, a telecommunicationse analyst for Robert W. Baird Co. Inc., Milwaukee.
By building new high-capacityh fiber networks, Venable said, Williams and Qwesgt are reducing entry barriers to competitionj in telecommunications services and putting more markeyt pressure on local exchange suchas Ameritech-Wisconsin. "They are making it easiet for other companies to selltelecom services," Venable said. "Telecom services are price elastic, so as pricesz go down, usage goes up, especially in the data In markets where Williams is already the company is selling fiber capacity toInterner companies, long-distance companies and even one regionalk Bell operating company, US West, Colo.
"The demand for bandwidth is beint driven bythe Internet," said Julie Gentz, a spokeswomanj for Williams. Gentz said the new route from Chicago to Milwauke gives Williams greater market penetration and strengthensthe company'sx network reliability. "The corridor from Milwaukee to Chicagk is a highly developed area with unlimited demans for data and other telecom services over the next few saidScot Cullen, telecommunications administratoe for the state Publicc Service Commission.
Even though Williams and Qwest are in the earlhy stages of planningtheir networks, Cullehn said the projects should proceed He said the Telecommunicationsa Act of 1996 gives companies the abilityh to locate their fibedr systems on rights of way owned by other companies, such as Ameritechu or GTE Corp., Stamford, Conn. Jim president of Brookfield-based Norlighg Telecommunications Inc., a subsidiary of Journal Communications Inc.
, is not convinced the two wholesaler s will have a huge impact on telecommunications inmetropolitan "It is already a crowdex industry in terms of number of said Ditter, whose company will compete with Williams and Qwest for "There is (fiber-optic) capacity availabl e on the market right now." Ditter said the two companiees are not offering anything directlu to consumers that will lower prices, nor are they offerinh any new products. "The key to making an impacty on customers is how youpackage services, and it take them a long time to developl a brand," Ditter said.
a 25-year-old regional company, has a fiber-optiv and digital microwave network of morethan 3,0009 miles in the Upper Midwest. While Norlight is likely to be a competitore of Williams and Qwest as a bulktransporyt carrier, it is also possiblr that the new wholesalers could become customerzs of Norlight. Ditter said Norlight might be able to providewadditional fiber-optic reach in parts of northernj Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Williams' expansiobn of its fiber-optic network, a $2.7 billion investmenty in a 32,000-mile system across the is scheduled to be completecby 2001. The company now has 69 citieds connected to its network and will grow to includew100 cities.
Williams, through more than a half-dozen subsidiaries, is the nation'se largest volume transporter ofnatural gas. Its communicationa businesses include video satellites and video andaudio conferencing, as well as fiber-optix transmission. Qwest's planned 16,000-milwe domestic network will servd125 cities, which it says representz 80 percent of the data and voicer traffic originating in the United Qwest also is extending its network 1,400 miles into Two weeks ago, Qwest and LCI International McLean, Va., announced plans for a $4.4 billion LCI is the fourth-largest U.S. long distance company in the countrgbehind AT&T Corp., Sprint and MCI Communications Corp.
The primary reason for the merger is that LCI wantedc totap Qwest's fiber-optic