Tradelite,
QWST is in a tight situation not having "the last mile". you can have all the infrastructure in the world, but without the last mile to the home or office they are at the mercy of the baby bells.
excerpt from
cbs.marketwatch.com
"Qwest has a national fiber-optic system and is in the long distance market but Klugman calls its lack of local connectivity "probably its single biggest strategic risk" because Qwest needs to have end-user access."
QWST needs the connectivity and companies like ESPI have it. Note the words "local" and "Internet access for both commercial and residential customers." in the S&P Business Summary below.
S&P Business Summary - 19-FEB-99:
As of December 31, 1997, the company had 32 operational networks in 19 states. ESPI planned to have a total of 50 networks in service or under construction by mid-1998, subject to available funding. Dedicated and special access services for IXCs and other carriers accounted for 42% of revenues in 1997; 38% came from data and Internet services, and 20% from switched local and other services. Dedicated services include special access services, which provide a link between an end-user location and the point of presence (POP) of the IXC, or links between IXC POPs; switched transport services, which are offered to IXCs that have large volumes of long-distance traffic; and private line services, which provide dedicated facilities between two end-user locations in the same metropolitan area..............
ESPI also offers high-speed data services, including frame relay, ATM traffic and Internet access. Following the January 1997 acquisition of Cybergate, Inc., the company has also begun to offer high-speed data communications services, including computer network connections and related infrastructure services, to allow Internet access for both commercial and residential customers.
End of S&P Business Summary
ESPI has the best of both worlds, "back bone" and "last mile", and this is the reason companies like QWST may want ESPI.
Neal
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