Sam, concerning "neutrality," your article sounds a lot like one that I've made into a must reading here, from Americas Network Magazine, titled:
"Checking out Carrier Hotels; Space ... A Fading Frontier for Carriers." By Annie Lindstrom
see: americasnetwork.com
While speaking about one of the facilities management firms that houses SPs, the article states:
""Because [facilities provider] is a "carrier neutral" facility, however, its clients don't have to promise any carrier a specific amount of traffic to purchase floor space for their equipment, nor do they have to exchange all of their traffic with a single carrier.""
Other claims of neutrality have been offered up by CLECs in much the same way in the past. What happened during the early stages of CLEC existence, when they were known as ALTs and CAPs, was that they catered heavily to the Interexchange Carrier market bypassing the LECs, and they didn't want to step on the toes of the Big Three, so they maintained that they would not compete with them in the long haul marketplace. Of course, all of that has changed, as it almost appears inevitable that it would. Today carriers (wholesalers) that boast about neutrality and unequivocally state that they won't compete with their customers (retailers), would need to possess the patience of a monk and the religion of a saint in order to avoid the temptations that will cross their paths as convergence follows through, once they are up an working. Just my two cents... Frank |
