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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. De Paul who wrote (4968)	8/13/1999 6:05:00 PM
From: Doughboy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Kenneth, I'm not sure MikeM has it exactly right. ILECs have never been prohibited from competing with DLECs and CLECs in the DSL market. In fact the leading DSL provider right now is an ILEC -- US West. What the FCC recently did (and maybe MikeM can confirm that this is the ruling he was thinking of) was to approve of the SBC-Ameritech merger on the condition that SBC agree to use a separate subsidiary to compete in the DSL market. That allegedly ensures that SBC doesn't discriminate in providing copper loops to CLECs. Also SBC agreed to provide copper loops and conditioning in certain time intervals or else pay substantial penalties. From what I've heard from some DSL sources, the deal was good in theory but when the FCC saw the actual agreement in writing from SBC, it was not all what it was cracked up to be. IMO, the recent bloodbath in the DSL market does not have much to do with the regulatory environment; it's just about the realization that the DLECs (Covad, Northpoint, and Rhythms) are going to take a long time to ramp up and at a huge cost, and therefore their market caps are all out of whack. I would be a buyer of these companies with another 10-15% decline in their values. Doughboy.

To: Kenneth E. De Paul who wrote (4968)	8/13/1999 6:08:00 PM
From: MikeM54321	Respond to of 12823

Ken, It was in my hard copy of the latest Network World. Don't know if it's online. The title is, "FCC Makes it Easier for RBOCs to Compete." Here's a line out of it. "New FCC regulations that allow RBOCs to compete with CLECs for local access line could cool the red-hot growth CLECs have experienced in recent years." Then there is an interesting graph below the statement. It shows data CLEC revenues: 1996 $2.5 Billion 1997 $4.8 Billion 1998 $9.0 Billion 1999 $17.5 Billion (estimated) But as usual, it's not as easy as it seems. LOTS of regulations on exactly what markets the ILECs can go head to head with the data CLECs. It seems sort of limited to me? It's very hard to figure out how significant the ruling is because the article lacks details. MikeM(From Florida) PS Regarding my upstream post, I did remember correctly about Qwest teaming up with Covad for DSL services.