LAS VEGAS - Sprint is promising to reduce local service costs by 25% to 30% for many customers with its Frame Relay over DSL service set to launch this week at NetWorld+Interop 2003.

Pitched as alternative connectivity to local frame relay, Sprint is using Covad Communications' local networks throughout the country to offer 192K up to 1.5M bit/sec DSL connectivity to its frame backbone. The carrier expects many low-speed frame relay customers to be interested in this offering because of rising local access charges, says Larry DeNayer, manager of product planning and integration at the carrier.

The service also is targeting customers looking for a less-expensive back-up service that bypasses their incumbent local exchange carrier.

"Customers with 56K bit/sec frame relay service pay about $200 [per month] for aggressively priced access," DeNayer says. "Frame Relay over DSL customers will pay the same for 192K bit/sec DSL on a three-year contract."

The carrier says users that compare Sprint's Frame Relay over DSL service with traditional access services at 1M bit/sec likely will see larger cost savings.

One industry expert says Sprint is on the right track with this offering.

"This is a positive development for Sprint," says Michael Suby, an analyst at Stratecast Partners. The carriers have expanded the reach of frame relay on the high end, offering 45M bit/sec support, so it makes sense to also expand it at the low end, he says.

Sprint is offering symmetrical DSL (SDSL) and ISDN over DSL (IDSL). While not nearly as popular as SDSL, IDSL can reach users who are farther away from a carrier's central office switch site. IDSL supports data transmissions up to 144K bit/sec to users up to 39,000 feet from a central office. SDSL supports data transmissions up to 1.5M bit/sec, but only for users who are within 18,000 feet of a central office.

While DSL will offer users another choice when it comes to local access, it will not be useful for customers who are paying some of the highest access fees. Traditional frame relay access provisioned by local exchange carriers can get very expensive for users in rural areas that are many miles from a central office. And the majority of those customers will not be able to use Sprint's new offering.