DSL providers continue cutbacks

From...

by Michael Martin

(IDG) -- The holiday season was anything but merry for the employees and customers of several DSL providers that announced cutbacks or closures.

Competitive DSL carriers have been hit hard in recent months. Covad Communications and NorthPoint Communications, two of the largest competitive DSL companies, made major workforce cuts late last year. Some smaller providers, including HarvardNet and Zyan have left the DSL business, or filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The holiday casualties included Jato Communications of Denver, Covad of Santa Clara, and Digital Broadband of Waltham, Mass.

IDG.net INFOCENTER NWFusion main page Network World Fusion's product reviews Net.Worker: Resources for teleworkers Free daily newsletters Related IDG.net Stories Warp speed Web access: Cable vs. DSL vs. everything else DSL bloodbath continues DSL upstarts can't compete with phone giants Features Network security begins at home Any port is a hacker storm DSL bloodbath continues

Covad revealed last week that it will cut 400 positions as part of a restructuring plan announced last month. The 400 are in addition to 400 cuts announced on Nov. 27.

The cuts will primarily affect Covad's Business Solutions division, formerly BlueStar.net. and will include sales, operations, marketing and support personnel.

Also as part of its restructuring plan, Covad will close about 200 central offices that are either not performing well, or have not been fully built-out. Covad estimates the closures will affect about 1.5% of its subscribers. After the closures, Covad will operate in approximately 1,800 central offices.

Digital Broadband, which announced job cutbacks early in December, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, which provided DSL and local voice services to about 1,000 business customers in seven Northeast states, has retained a skeleton staff to maintain operations until Jan. 12. Digital Broadband is encouraging its customers to move to other providers.

Jato, an operator serving business customers in 11 second-tier markets in the Rocky Mountains, Southwestern and South Central U.S. closed its offices last week. Last fall Jato had shelved its plans to become a national DSL provider.

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Zyan
Covad
HarvardNet

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