By ERIC SYLVERS
Published: November 3, 2003

ILAN, Nov. 2 - The capital of Italy's fashion industry prides itself on the ability to be first to identify a trend. Silvio Scaglia, chief executive and co-founder of e.Biscom, a recent technology start-up, is hoping the same holds true for technology.

Mr. Scaglia, who is at the forefront of an effort to deliver high-speed Internet services to homes, began building a network of fiber optic cables in Milan four years ago. But critics worry that e.Biscom may be so far ahead of the curve that it will prove to be little more than a flash in the pan.

That is because Mr. Scaglia faces formidable competition from Telecom Italia, which is focusing on a less effective but also much less expensive broadband alternative known as A.D.S.L. (asymmetric digital subscriber line), which uses the telephone company's existing copper wires.

E.Biscom's fiber rollout has achieved a measure of success, capturing a 20 percent share among Milan residences. But it has not yet come close to making a profit, and it is not clear when consumers will demand all the extra digital bandwidth that fiber is capable of delivering.

"At the end of the day it will be A.D.S.L. that dominates the broadband market," said Lisa Unden, an analyst in London with Gartner, the information technology research firm. "There will always be a little bit of space for fiber and other methods to get broadband, but they will remain minor factors.''

Continued @ The New York Times