In the old saw about real estate, Brambleton, Va., a planned community, would seem to have everything going for it. Less than an hour from Washington, D.C., 10 minutes from the corporate headquarters of AOL and a short hop to Dulles Airport, the town has location, location, location. But check out the town's Web site, and it's what's underneath the ground that is one of the major selling points. Like a growing number of communities where homes are springing up like weeds in the average suburban lawn, Brambleton is a fiber-to-the-premises community.

As part of the development of the town of 6240 housing units (both single family and multi-dwelling), Verizon's Enhanced Communities Project was selected as the preferred provider of all communications service. As part of the agreement, Verizon put fiber directly into every unit as it was built. The company currently serves the area with its FiOS-branded voice and data service and will launch video as soon as it gets a local cable franchise.

It has also become part of a larger trend. Although economists debate the popping of the real-estate bubble, telcos are finally getting a piece of the action by signing deals with developers to become preferred providers.

“Developers have historically been technology-averse,” said Alex Arnz, product manager for Verizon's Enhanced Community Project. “Now they're realizing that this is an easy way for them to differentiate. Homeowners and renters are moving into houses not just based on schools and the traditional things, but also on the technology infrastructure.”

So far, Verizon has signed deals with Pulte Homes, Ryland Homes, KB Homes and Lennar to become preferred providers in its territory.

For BellSouth, which recently announced a similar agreement with Pulte and has created its Community Technologies group to do more of the same, the draw is the ability to stake out a position as either the preferred or exclusive communications provider in some very fast-growing Southeastern markets.

“When the developers are involved in this growing phenomena of these planned communities, the developer used to plan the lots and disappear,” said Phil Jacobs, president of BellSouth Community Technologies. “Now, more and more are staying involved. In many cases, they run the homeowners association.”

In the Southeast, BellSouth's research indicates that 70% of homes under construction will fall into either the multi-dwelling unit category or be single-family homes in large developments with homeowner's associations.

“What we've found is that developers are looking at communications as a way to create a competitive advantage,” Jacobs said.

Indeed, an oft-cited study by Render Vanderslice claims that homes with fiber connectivity sell for approximately $4000 to $6000 more than comparable homes with copper connections.

For carriers, the economics of fiber make it almost automatic that any large development currently under construction will get fiber access. More challenging is the specific agreement with developers. In some cases, carriers are selling voice, data and video in bulk to developers that then package and charge for the services as part of a monthly homeowner's or association fee. At other times, carriers are considered marketing partners and builder representatives will market services to new residents.

“It's very much customized. Builders and developers have differing definitions of roles they want to play,” Jacobs said. “Generally, the industry has moved to some kind of compensation fee whether it's a door fee or as an ongoing revenue stream. It's pretty much every permutation of that combination. Part of our challenge is being flexible.”

BUILDERS' ATTITUDES ABOUT OFFERING NEW PRODUCTS

Percentage of respondents, out of 468, who selected one statement that best applied

17%

We are typically ahead of consumer demand and/or the market.

56%

We typically look for new products that can differentiate us in the market.

6%

We are cautious about offering new products; we wait until the market dictates we need to.

2%

Anything other than basic infrastructure is beyond the scope of our homes.

Source: Parks Associates