31 Million Family MDU Market Ripe Target for In-Building BPL, Says Telkonet’s Dahl
In-building broadband over powerline (BPL) provider Telkonet and ISPs are targeting 31 million families living in multiple dwelling units, as ISPs coping with rapid loss on the dial-up side turn to new technologies to provide broadband, said Telkonet Exec. Vp Albert Diehl. Broadband penetrates to only 45% of MDU households, creating “a market that is both large in size and also right for delivery of services,” Diehl told us. EarthLink recently said it’s teaming with Telkonet to provide broadband, VoIP and networking services to MDUs in the Washington, D.C., area.
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Telkonet is working out similar arrangements with 6 other major ISPs under pressure to provide broadband more quickly, Diehl said, declining to name the ISPs. Upon entering the MDU market, the company solicited some 1,500 small ISPs, finding most either very localized or too poorly capitalized to expand their markets, he said. Now Telkonet focuses on major ISPs, he added. With VoIP penetration growing nationally, VoIP is a key part of Telkonet’s “modified triple play” offering, he said. Typically 10%-15% of MDU subscribers opt for VoIP, he added.
Telkonet also is reaching out to electric utilities’ communications subsidiaries, Diehl said. The company recently signed a pact with Ameren Communications, a subsidiary of Ameren Energy, to provide in-building BPL service in Mo. and Ill. (CD Sept 27 p14). Ameren has about 2.2 million energy customers in the 2 states. Most utilities enjoy very high market acceptance - a factor on which Ameren is relying in its BPL venture, Diehl said. But nudging utilities to expand from their primary energy business is a “slow and deliberate process,” he said. Telkonet would like to see utilities be more aggressive, but “at the end of the day, they are very powerful players,” he said.
Motorola’s entry into the MDU space with its Powerline MU solution wouldn’t hurt Telkonet, Diehl said. Comcast, Charter and Cox were among cable operators showing early interest in the technology (CD Sept 18 p3), Motorola said. The industry needs “additional players” to build MDU owners’ and managers’ confidence in the technology, he said. But being the market leader in the technology, “we still have a superior product,” Diehl said.
Telkonet is talking to all the major cable and satellite companies, he said, without naming them. Telkonet technology attracts cable in regard to hotels and apartment complexes long ago fitted with unidirectional analog cable. Rewiring would be costly and disruptive for those companies, which want provide broadband and VoIP services via in-building BPL, he said.
In-building BPL deployment involves no regulatory issues, Diehl said: “We don’t face the same issues the BPL access providers face with ham radio operators.” State regulators need not issue permits for deployments, he said. Telkonet has begun “aggressively” marketing in Europe, where a majority of people live in MDUs, he said. “But the power line solution has not been as roundly accepted; it’s still a fairly new technology.” The company also is active in Canada and Mexico, he added.