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Technology Stocks : MindSpring Enterprises (MSPG) Another ISP. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IFLYer who wrote (773)	1/21/1999 11:55:00 PM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1434

Very important. news.com Greg

To: IFLYer who wrote (773)	1/22/1999 6:45:00 PM
From: Mr Bones	Respond to of 1434

> I take that the ISPs such as MSPG will make > inroad into the internet phone business once the > pipe is fatten. > Could you explain to me how the telcos will make > money with internet phone? My take is they have > to make money through owning an ISP now, since > people will no longer be charged by the hour making > phone calls through the internet. Do you agree? Sort of. The traditional telcos will not make money from phone calls going over the Net except (as you suggest) by owning an ISP. However this is a gritty way to make money -- an article I saw today on AT&T's proposed sale of it's WorldNet ISP business to @Home call the margins "razor thin". I think that any business running a dialup ISP will not make a profit on that operation unless it is their only line of business and they can focus on it 100%. In short, I don't think the telcos want to be ISPs, or will want to do so once they've tried it for a while. Ditto for the cablecos. IMO the biggest beneficiaries of Net phones will be those selling the bandwidth (MCI WorldCom, e.g.) and this includes some telcos. In any case, this is a fast-moving area of technology and Net phones are a ways off from mainstream use, so by the time Net phones do become mainstream the whole landscape may have changed. The telcos are not asleep to the fact that Net telephony is a threat to them. As far as CB's comments about being a telecom company, I think he was just keeping his options open. :) I haven't heard anything about it since, and I think right now MSPG has its hands full dealing with bband access, gobbling up competitors and regulatory issues. Peace, Mr Bones