AT&T adds hosted VoIP

BT names vendors for 21st Century

Lightpath restructures New York service

MCI favors Verizon's revised offer

Qwest gives up MCI quest

U.S. homes passed by FTTP to sextuple by 2009

Verizon expands EVDO in NYC

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The MCI inevitability
By Carol Wilson
May 2, 2005

Qwest Communications' decision to abandon its pursuit of MCI comes as no real surprise. MCI's Board of Directors had made it quite clear that it was only going to accept Qwest's money if forced to. In its announcement this morning that it was taking Verizon's latest offer, even though it fell short of what Qwest had offered, the board made its most compelling case yet, citing the lack of confidence its business customers had in a combined MCI-Qwest as a driving factor in its decision.

Try as he might, Qwest CEO Richard Notebaert could not overcome the industry perception that acquiring MCI was an act of desperation from a company that is more than $14 billion in debt, has not been able to compete nationally for business customers and serves a local region that is less attractive than any other former Bell company, in terms of major business customers. (Continued after ad)
 

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By contrast, the Verizon-MCI combo was seen as a worth adversary for a combined SBC-AT&T, given Verizon's ownership of wireless assets, its initiatives in local premises fiber and advanced services, and its primo local service territory.

With MCI-Verizon now looking like a done deal
--barring and MCI stockholder revolt--it's time to consider what the rest of the industry needs to do to prepare for battle with two behemoths.

It's fun to ponder prospects--BellSouth and Sprint? Qwest and a cable provider?--but this is not a game for business customers trying to make choices that will impact their bottom line in years to come. The U.S. seems to be marching toward a duopoly in the residential market. Is there one coming for business as well?

E-mail me at CWilson3@primediabusiness.com.

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Top News
AT&T adds hosted VoIP
By Carol Wilson
May 2, 2005   
AT&T is adding network-based voice over IP service to its portfolio, but don't call it IP Centrex.

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BT names vendors for 21st Century
By Ed Gubbins
April 28, 2005   
British Telecom today announced its selection of preferred equipment suppliers for its so-called "21st Century Network," a $19 billion project to build a nationwide next-generation network over the next several years.

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Lightpath restructures New York service
By Carol Wilson
April 29, 2005   
Lightpath, the business services arm of Cablevision Systems, is making a major move on Verizon in New York, with a significant restructuring of its services and tighter integration with its parent company.

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MCI favors Verizon's revised offer
By Carol Wilson
May 2, 2005   
Citing concerns of its business customers, MCI today rejected Qwest Communications' higher $30 a share offer in favor of a newly revised offer from Verizon that adds up to $26 a share.

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Qwest gives up MCI quest
By Carol Wilson
May 2, 2005   
Qwest Communications has ended its efforts to acquire MCI Communications, the company said today.

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U.S. homes passed by FTTP to sextuple by 2009
By Ed Gubbins
April 27, 2005   
In 2009, the availability of fiber-to-the-premises in the U.S. will be more than six times what it was last year, according to a new report from research firm In-Stat.

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Verizon expands EVDO in NYC
By Jason Ankeny
April 29, 2005   
Verizon Wireless this week announced plans to accelerate EV-DO network expansion in the New York City area.

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