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Technology Stocks : VocalTec (VOCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (1704)	9/7/1998 2:50:00 PM
From: Doug (Htfd,CT)	Respond to of 2349

Frank, I think you're right ... McCaw's NextLink and Nextel and LVLT would make a dynamite combination to bypass the telcos and their legacy billing system and monopolistic attitudes and stranded costs. Did you read the cover article about LVLT in the recent issue of Forbes? "Bell Buster" ... its online at forbes.com Two paragraphs from it: "Crowe predicts that he can undercut AT&T and local phone companies 15% to 20% in delivering local and long distance service to office buildings. If a business of 80,000 employees runs up an $8 million monthly phone and data transport bill, Level 3 will do the work for something like $6.5 million. For now at least, Level 3 is interested only in business customers voracious for data. It does own 48% of RCN Corp., which is slowly building cable and fiber lines to residential customers in the Northeast. But this isn't Crowe's main thrust. He's in a hurry and can't sit around waiting for regulators to force open the consumer market. "Someday Congress or the courts will tear down those barriers," Crowe says. "In the long run, I can't believe they'll deny residential and small-business customers the savings the big customers can get." But he's not holding his breath-and in the meantime there are enough big and fast-growing customers out there to keep Level 3 and its competitors busy for years." Doug (long VOCLF and NXTL, no position in NXLK or LVLT ... today)

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (1704)	9/7/1998 10:18:00 PM
From: Doug (Htfd,CT)	Respond to of 2349

Frank, I'm reexamining LVLT news and postings on its board here at SI. One that caught my eye was at #1013, which was a 'clipping' of an interview by IBD of Crowe. They discussed LVLT's plans to offer services for making voice calls over the Net. He closed by noting that while they have a variety of choices for connecting large businesses, for medium and small businesses and residences, they are stuck with old copper wire and that there is "no incentive for the Bells to open up those copper loops." Doug