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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GraceZ who wrote (19255)	1/25/2000 11:14:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 29970

Graciella, all very good points, and thank you for your enlightenment, as well, in areas that tend to stray off of my radar screen from time to time. But even when analyzing your points, I see room for tensions here in deciding rent vs own, where this new company (aoltwx) is concerned. Yes, I agree (that is an understatement, actually) that HFC has gross limitations compared to the demands that normal near-vertical Internet growth plus multimedia sales and distribution will dictate (music, videos, etc), to be sure. And yes, AOLTWX might find it more enticing to rent rather than own, when ubiquitous bandwidth eventually unfolds into a purely commodity status. But the state of the industry is no where near there, yet, where two-way high-cap broadband is concerned. But their requirements are more immediate than what those distant time frames will prove to be. My belief is that near to intermediate term they will not want to place themselves in a hostage situation on the wrong side of the equation, any time soon. Especially to a one of a kind communications provider, since none exists now that could surpass even limited HFC's capabilities, who could lock them into a submissive role. Like @home itself, I see AOLTWX leveraging other peoples' pipes in areas where they do not have coverage at the moment. I can also see AOLTWX taking a more proactive stance in upgrading their own facilities at the same time, in order to make them more permissive of unfettered digital broadband passage. Do you really believe that Case's case against the cartel didn't entice him to join them in a veiled sort of if you can't beat them join them move? I do believe that the far reaching broadband capabilities were very much plugged into his calculus, is what I'm saying. Their memories of the dial tone crunch of two years ago is still very fresh in their minds. In that instance they spent a half billion and sacrificed in many institutional ways, at first, simply to bolster their dial up capabilities. Today, the stakes are much higher, extending into entirely new dimensions. What would they now spend to upgrade their HFCs if their distribution of music and video stands to fall on its face? Always good to share views with you. Regards, Frank Coluccio