Dave, I suppose a more appropriate question would have been, Why didn't T propose a tracking stock for its Cable ops, earlier on, before all of the capital they claim to have spent (and still require) to bring that space up to speed? I'm still curious about the regs, though, the ones I inquired about in my original post. If anyone has an aswer to that, please post.
--
T had the momentum on their side to do a tracking stock for their cable ops about ten to twelve months ago, following the initial announcements. I view this shift by them on the hype scale as a possible form of losing face that they are attempting to hide through a screen of smoke... that they should now seek to promote yet another venue of operations before finishing or showing any signs of finishing many of the things they set out to do in cable. Much of the fan fare on the cable front now seems to have been only episodic in nature, despite the gains that they have made, but nonetheless seeming to have been relegated south, in some ways. They have some lingering issues there that are not going to go away quickly, and there is no easy way to resolve them overnight.
The fact that they needed to pull back on IP voice for various reasons; the lower-than-projected penetration rates for voice in RBOC territories; the continuing problems they are having in getting people to do the work (not unique to T, though, I should add); and the higher than anticipated costs for the improved fiber architecture upgrades... all require capital, too.
What will this list of burdens look like in the wireless realm in another year or so? Do you think they will have changed their air interface direction by then? Will the fixed wireless space be cannibalized by the effects caused by startups and other newly acquired spectrum players?
----
By the way, is the SI board particularly sluggish this evening to you and others? I'm seeing five times or more the normal delay between frames as I normally would (approximately 10 to 15 seconds per click, as opposed to the normal 2 to 4). I'm using a V.90 modem.
Regards, Frank |
