re: "Having stated that, it's interesting that Cleland continues to put considerable weight behind the three remaining RBOCs' chances to succeed (omitting Qwest, of course) based on his assessment in the article. It would lead one to conclude that he actually understands and knows how to interpret their financial reporting"
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Yeah, I thought it was interesting too, that he thinks the tRiBOCs come out essentially unscathed. Hard to imagine how his "industry wide" doom and gloom some how misses our friends at the monopoLECs. Maybe this quote from him gives a hint of where his head's at:
"Citing the industry's "extraordinary interdependence and mandated interconnectedness," Mr. Cleland, whose analysis is widely respected, predicts that 24 of the nation's 29 top telecommunications companies that have not yet filed for bankruptcy are at risk of doing so in coming months. [Except for] Verizon, Cisco Systems, SBC and BellSouth."
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Imagine that, "mandated interconnectedness" was a key contributor to the current state of things, with the implication, apparently, that removing all the unbundling requirements (i.e. going to an unregulated monopoly) via some soon-to-be policy will solve all the problems. Either it is wishful thinking for "his 3 sons" or he must be fairly sure that changes will happen, and fairly soon. Otherwise it's hard to imagine the tRiBOC's immunity from the plague. The scary thing is that he is pretty well plugged in to the policy circles. |
