In today's telecom business environment, a thorough and accurate understanding of past mistakes goes a long way in ensuring future success. Providing you with an authoritative account of what contributed to the Great Telecom Crashù, this insightful resource explores the roots of the perfect storm that buffeted telecom and Internet companies and investors. You get a detailed insider's look at how the crash was caused by a complex combination of risk and regulatory factors in an increasingly competitive environment, originally fueled by the break up of AT&T. The Great Telecom Meltdown offers you a solid understanding of the evolving structure of the information, communications and telecom industries, and how companies and sectors within these industries relate to each other. You gain insight into identifying sound long-term investment strategies and avoiding fads with unsound fundamentals. The book helps you make sense of the regulatory framework that has been evolving, as competition gradually replaces regulation among different industry sectors. Moreover, you gain an appreciation for the context of the modern telecom industry, leading up to and beyond the Telecom Act of 1996, which, as the book explains, has been given more credit and more blame for the events of the era than it deserves.
Ma Bell and her Natural Monopolyù, 1876-1969 - Natural and Unnatural Monopoly. Western Union. Patent Protection. The Kingsbury Commitment. The Slow Pace of Progress. The Smith Decision and Universal Services. The Final Judgment. Hushaphone and the First Cracks in the Monopoly. The Disruptive Transistor.; The Rebirth of Competition - Carterfone Made the Network More Valuable. Registration Opened Up the Floodgates. Digitization from the Outside In. Computer II and the Detariffing of Terminal Equipment. MCI 's Shared Microwave Opens New Doors.; Divestiture: Equal Access and Chinese Walls - The 1956 FJ vs. At&T 's Big Computer Dreams. The Money 's in Long Distance, Right? Birth of the Baby Bells.ISDN and the Slow Digitization of the RBOC Networks. Digital Switching Reaches the Local Central Office. Centrex Revival. ISDN Desktop Data, a Decade Late for the IVD Bubble. Digital Access Held Hostage for Local Measured Service.; The Internet Boom and the Limits to Growth - The ARPAnet as a Seminal Research Network. Vendor-Proprietary Corporate Data Networks. SNA and DECnet Square Off. OSI, the Big Committee that Couldn 't. NSFnet Interconnects Universities. Commercialization at Last. An Internet Industry Structure Develops. Traffic Explodes as the Public Joins. ISPs Set Pricing to Produce Permanent Losses. Gold Rush Mentality Inflates ISP Stocks. Dotcoms Create a Demand Bubble. Carrier Hotels Create Too Much Room at the Inn. The Bubble Bursts in Equipment Manufacturers ' Faces.; The Deuteronomy Networks - Early Players Found Receptive Investors. Short-Term bandwidth Crunch Invited More Suppliers. Qwest Follows Sprint 's Lead Along the Rails. Kiewit Sells MFS, Creates Level 3. Williams Sells Wiltel, Creates Wilcom. Metromedia Sells Cellular and Long-Haul, Creates MMFN. Undersea, Undersea, Under Beautiful Sea. How Much Bandwidth was Available?; Losing by Winning: Wireless and the License Auctions - Original License Lotteries Led to Farcical Resale. Cellular Networks Grew to Profitability. Auctions as a Fair Way to Allocate Scarce Spectrum. 3Gù Combined the Allure of Both Internet and Wireless. Many Large Incumbents Were Left with Huge Debt.; Competition Access Providers, the Costly Way to Local Competition - RBOC Prices to Large Customers Were Out of Line. States Supported RBOC Monopolies More than the FCC. Teleport Cracks the NYNEX Monopoly. Competitors Outrace RBOCs to Provide Local Fiber Optic Connections. The Telecom Act Opens Local Service Competition. Fixed Wireless as an Alternative? HFC gave Cable Providers an Advantage on Triple Playù.; DLECs and ELECs, an Exercise in Extreme Oversupply - DSL 's Slow Start as a Failed Video Offering. The Telecom Act Invites Novel Use of Unbundled Loops. Capital Poisoning Leads DLECs to Expand atop One Another. Survivors Face Regulatory Might of ILECs. Ethernet LECs Apply CAP Model to Datacomm.; CLECs ' Winning Strategies Are Met by Rule Changes - The Telecom Act Anticipated CAPs and Resellers. Initial Strategies for Serving Classicalù Voice Business. ISP Dial-In Business and CLECs - A Match Made in Heaven. New Generation Switching Equipment Lowers Capital Costs. An ILEC-Friendly FCC Throws Obstructions at Surviving CLECs.; Focus on the Bottom Line - Asset Valuation Is Risky. Accounting Was Scandalous. New Services Need to Fit into a Food Chain. Competitive Realities Will Change.;
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Fred Goldstein
Fred Goldstein is currently the principal of Ionary Consulting. A highly-regarded industry professional and published author, he has provided expert testimony before several state regulatory agencies and the Federal Communications Commission, and provides direct support to law firms on matters concerning telecommunications. A senior member of IEEE, he holds three patents in the area of Asynchronous Transfer Mode technology.