Me too, Mark. I think that some may have forgotten that Tony Pompliano, the CEO of ESPI, was the original CEO of MFS Communications back in the street fighting days, when most local fiber (and microwave... whatever happened to LOCATE?) competitors were lumped into a class known first as alternative access providers, (AAP) and then competitive access providers (CAPs), before the current in vogue competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) which has also given way to a host of other designators. In those days Tony made a considerable amount of noise at the congressional level, and was largely responsible for some groundbreaking legislation, while TCG's Annunziata was taking another tact through court challenges against the incumbents, on a case-by-case basis. Going and coming, not a bad strategy for the fledgling industry to have taken, in retrospect.
I think that ESPI regards themselves now as among the class known as Integrated Communications Providers (ICPs), comprising all other forms of service providers, as situations suit them, but what's in a name... right? |
