While Qwest announces that they'll soon reveal video bundle partners, SBC, BellSouth, and Verizon team up to standardize fiber deployment. Most telcos have stepped up their efforts to provide video services to combat cable's dominance, since with the exception of a few non-U.S. companies, none of them have been particularly aggressive. That may slowly be a changing trend.

In Canada, a company by the name of Manitoba Telecom Services recently announced that they'd be spending $210 million to run fiber optic cable throughout Winnipeg's neighborhoods. A fairly aggressive move considering the company itself is only worth $580 million. According to Cheryl Barker, president of Manitoba Telecom's TV division, U.S. telcos should move faster. She also argues that "all the telcos should get in this business."

In Japan and elsewhere in Asia Pac, video over DSL has been a reality for quite some time. The New York Times recently depressed scores of Americans with their detailed report on a South Korean family paying $32 a month for their 40MBps connection, via which they get everything from soap operas to gaming. In fact a division of the Seoul Broadcasting System charges 40 cents a broadband show, and claims 1.8 million registered users with 4,000 more signing up every day.

Qwest CEO Richard Notebaert told analysts today that the company is in the process of striking deals with providers, and that the company will likely announce a deal to bundle video services "soon". That deal will likely be with a major satellite provider, since Qwest and other telco's foray into VDSL has hit specification roadblocks and wound up being simply too expensive. Qwest has some VoDSL customers in Phoenix and Denver already, but has stated publicly that they don't plan to expand that particular service into other markets at this time.

Speeds on the DSL hardware side have been accelerating for what it's worth. Next Level Communications claims their VDSL offers 26 Mbps at 4,000 feet. Centillium has been making techies' eyes roll with their claims that they've developed 50Mbps, backward compatible DSL that runs as far as 22,000 feet from the CO over existing copper. Alcatel has promised they'll roll out new ADSL2+ cards late this year. But when it all comes together as a coherent plan with a functional infrastructure is anyone's guess.

The telcos meanwhile are working harder on fiber roll-outs to fulfill their video dreams (or at least making it look that way before the FCC puts its February ruling down in stone).

Verizon, SBC, and BellSouth today announced that the companies had collectively agreed to standardize the construction of residential fiber-optic networks, hoping to make the roll-outs of such technology cheaper and easier. As we mentioned recently, Verizon President Lawrence T. Babbio Jr. said his company would make rolling out fiber a priority in 2004; but some would argue such promises have been made before.

In the end, when Joe Homeowner will be able to watch "All in the Family" reruns via a telco provided, non-satellite broadband solution, is something even the greatest soothsayers would be hard-pressed to predict.