First in Nice : an offer of fast AOL through cable

Vivendi, which has conducted the Télériviera experimentation during two years, has sworn to come back and offer, with AOL, an Internet solution through the cable. That's done today...

The Télériviera experimentation of Internet through cable, which has been conducted during two years in Nice from 1996 to 1998, has led to a conclusion : yes to cable, but no to the creation of specific programs. Hence the decision of Vivendi, which has launched the experience on its concessive network, to come back in Nice with this technology, but with AOL as a support. That's what is done today. Thus, Christian Koraz, the general manager of NC Numéricâble (a subsidiary of Canal+) and Stéphane Treppoz, the CEO of AOL France, have presented late this week in Nice, a first : a new offer of fast AOL through cable.Two hundred subscribers are already connected and a slow rise in popularity is scheduled with around one hundred new subscribers per month. Still, they have an ambition : to reach the level of several ten thousand users by the end of next year.According to representatives of both companies allied in this operation, the cable offers several advantages : transfer rates ten times much faster than classical telephone line, a connection which is rated for a month package and which allows to stay connected continuously, while the telephone line remains available of course.The Internet solution through cable, an innovating one two years ago, is however today in competition with another formula, experimented in Nice at the moment as well : the ADSL of France Telecom. This solution, which is a recent one, offers transfer rate ten times superior than those of the classical telephone line (500 Ko as against 56 Ko for the faster modems at the moment), with a package tariffs and a line which remains available, even during the Internet connexion, for a simple phone call. France Telecom wants to develop this solution on a large scale in Nice as soon as next February. The fast Internet war seems definitely announced...