VOLATILITY!!!
We are in a very dangerous period short-term...took MRVC profits @ $38 a couple of weeks ago and look forward to buying back in below $30 during this volatility! Once we have this correction in the markets we should see a rapid ascent in MRVC to $60 in early 1998!
I was blown away by the news about power lines and the internet...this puts a whole new light on the industry. Electric companies have a 99.9% penetration rate to households, and are now going through the beginnings of deregulation...I think I'll start looking into the players!
Satellites are still going to be a major force, but cable companies have too much debt and will miss their opportunity because there is only about a 5 year window left! Iridium and Teledesic, along with some RBOC's and their fiber networks will be in high gear by then!
This powerline stuff sounds like 7-10 years away but it's such a no brainer that I can see numerous companies thinking about picking up an electric utility or two!!!
Here is the story on powerlines for those not up to speed...
Associated Press Writer=
NEW YORK (AP) _ A British utility company and a Canadian
telecommunications firm plan to provide high-speed Internet access
to British homes through power lines.
Canadian firm Northern Telecom Ltd. and United Utilities PLC, a
British power company, said Wednesday the new technology would
provide data at almost 10 times the speed of the fastest
connections currently available to home users. The new rate would
be about 1 megabit per second, enough to transmit a small novel in
a blink.
Peter Dudley, vice president of public network operations for
Northern Telecom, said a small box, called a ''tap,'' attached to
the meter would separate the data signal from the electricity. From
there, a cable, without current, would run to a special card inside
users' personal computers.
The tap could be used to meter the data flow and bill based on
the amount of data passing through, but he said that most customers
had said they wanted a flat-rate pricing plan between 20 and 30
pounds ($32 to $48) a month. The computer card would cost for about
150 to 200 pounds ($243 to $324).
The companies plan a test of the technology in about 200
Manchester homes in the spring of 1998. When the tests are
complete, Dudley said, the technology will be offered commercially.
There are no plans to market the technology in the United States,
he said. The companies will instead focus on Europe and Asia.
The high speed also would allow voice communications, but Dudley
said the partners are focusing on Internet access for now.
John Castagna, a spokesman for Edison Electric Institute in
Washington, said many power utilities in the United States already
use their wires to handle data, mostly to read electric meters. He
added that every electric utility of significant size has a fairly
sophisticated internal telecommunications network.
''What it means is that before their eyes, electric utilities
may suddenly become the largest providers of telecommunications in
the world,'' he said. ''It means telephone lines are obsolete.''
Dudley said existing telecommunications companies, such AT&T
WorldNet and MCI Internet had nothing to worry about.
''I think this is the biggest opportunity they've ever seen,
because they don't have access'' to high speed lines directly to
the home, he said.
A representative from AT&T WorldNet, one of the largest U.S.
Internet providers, said the company was watching the experiment in
Britain.
''Obviously it's a different mode of access than we're
providing,'' said spokesman Mike Miller. ''But the whole Internet
area is ripe with innovation. We're not surprised.' |
