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BellSouth CEO Duane Ackerman gave a broad-sweeping view of his company's broadband plans in his keynote speech at Supercomm 2005 yesterday, addressing IPTV and fiber capabilities and the challenges of wireless/wireline convergence. In an interview following his address, Ackerman admitted that the convergence of wireline and wireless could be more difficult for BellSouth, given that its mobile division, Cingular Wireless, is jointly owned by BellSouth (40%) and SBC Communications (60%).

"I don't know that we would be able to achieve the exact same level of integration that we could if it were totally owned by us--but having said that, neither can our competitors," Ackerman said, referring to Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. He also pointed out that Cingular is responsible for generating 40% of BellSouth's revenue.

In his keynote speech, Ackerman called BellSouth's technology philosophy a "mosaic approach," which this week was expanded to include pre-WiMAX technology from Navini Networks that the company plans to use in a pilot trial in Athens, Ga., that's slated to begin in August

"The broadband economy depends on the strength of converging networks," Ackerman said. "We are focused on transforming BellSouth into a broadband, IP services leader. It's a tough task."

Three fundamental principals guide the company's efforts, he said: Listen to customers, listen to technology and listen to investors. In the technology area, Ackerman talked about IPTV, voice over IP (VoIP), BellSouth's 1 million household-strong fiber-to-the-curb deployment and its DSL availability in 84% of the carrier's territory.

"We are listening to technology, and it's telling us to rapidly evolve our broadband network by combining emerging technologies with BellSouth's deep fiber network to make next-generation services a reality," he said.

As for the video realm, Ackerman said that while IPTV is important, it is not necessarily the end-all for BellSouth--nor is it the only video application BellSouth intends to pursue. He said verticals such as health care offer a number of video opportunities for an entity with wide-ranging broadband network capabilities.

"For us, this transition isn't just about bandwidth or a single app like VoIP or IPTV," he said. "We'll continue to test IPTV, but in this dynamic environment, market conditions constantly change. And unlike cable, we serve not just consumers but all segments of the market. Our focus remains on a larger broadband future."