MegaPath Plans Largest Nationwide Ethernet Network

By Khali Henderson

MegaPath Inc. announced Wednesday that it is planning to expand its Ethernet over copper network to more than 680 central offices by June 2012, making it the largest nationwide EoC services provider.

MegaPath offers EoC service from 200 central offices with plans to offer services to 200 more COs by the end of the year and the remaining 280 by summer.

The carrier is using the ADTRAN Total Access 5000 multiservice platform for the buildout. ADTRANs EFM and VDSL2 bonding capabilities will enable MegaPath to deliver up to 100MBps symmetric services, while simultaneously offering download speeds in excess of 400MBps. Thats six times higher than most Ethernet over copper solutions deliver and four to eight times greater than DSL, said Kevin Morgan, ADTRANs director of product management.

Kurt Raaflaub, ADTRANs marketing manager for carrier Ethernet and optical solutions, explained that the bandwidth increase is due to higher modulation combined with the use of up to eight pairs of copper. Morgan added that the new twist” is that its MEF-compliant and therefore preserves customer priorities for real-time traffic.

Morgan added that while most business Ethernet services heretofore have been symmetrical, traffic patterns are becoming more asymmetrical. One driver, he said, is the use of cloud delivery models, which are inherently asymmetrical.

Pasha Mohammed, MegaPaths director of product management for access services, told Channel Partners the carrier has seen a growing appetite for ever large bandwidth that its current 20MBps cannot fully address. MegaPaths EoC services include point-to-point, point-to-multipoint plus Ethernet over DS1 and Ethernet over DS3.  In addition,  Mohammed said that by choosing a multiservice platform, the company will be able to add Ethernet over fiber later in 2012.

The carriers Ethernet deployment began in 2010 when Covad, which merged with MegaPath, launched in the Los Angeles market. Based on a positive outcome, we have made a bigger commitment,” Mohammed said.

MegaPath plans to make its Ethernet services available through its indirect sales agents at the time of general availability.