Steve: Well, I could stand corrected on my synopsis of history, particularly as competition in those arenas is having an impact. I do know, from certain past adventures, that such companies as MFS Intelenet(long since acquired), were busy backbone wiring together the tier one cities of Europe(Paris, Berlin, etc., etc.) waaay back in 1993 or so. Once certain "relaxations" were afforded the telecom sector by various governing bodies....well..at least on the backbone side of things everything began moving reeeeeal quick. Very quickly local switching vehicles started being placed to support the telecommunications needs of the local populace, and I'll admit where-ever possible that was, and is, being done with fiber. Basically they're being wired with all new "stuff". Stuff suffering fewer of the drawbacks of a 100 year old, entrenched infrastructure. Still, to get up and running quickly with a sophisticated local communications grid, you can't beat wireless. Bottom Line? From my point of view, in telecom Europe and Asia are exciting places right now.
On a parenthetical aside....hey....is UK part of Europe? ;-)
John~ |
