Let's travel back in time to 1999, the time of the DLEC IPO. Covad, Rhythms and Northpoint all scored BIG IPO's. All went national. All failed.

Why? Some of it was ILEC hurdles; some was poor management; but mostly too wide, too fast.

Let's travel back to 1996. The Telecom Act allows CLEC's to print money by being a switchless reseller using UNE-P. Many tried. Some made bank. Some failed. Why? UNE-P was supposed to be a temporary way for CLEC's to enter a market; then they were suppose to transition to their own facilities. Many did not do this. They went wide - nationwide - where even the most successful with 250,000 customers wasn't nearly deep enough.

This time let's jump to 2002-2003, when Yipes, Cogent, WilTel, and others all filed for bankruptcy. All went heavy into fiber and fat pipe. All were national. All failed to go deep in any building it lit.

What's the common denominator here? All went wide and failed.

It is about density, deep, penetration.

Whether you have fixed wireless, cellular, fiber, DSL, EoC, or T1's, the thing you should focus on is deep penetration of your target geography.

Only one CLEC that I know of ever achieved anything close to 15% market penetration in a city of business customers. This year Comcast will likely hit 17-18% penetration of the SMB market in their entire region!

Deep.

Deep requires focus (and marketing).

Deep involves wallet share too. If you have a shallow pool to choose from, you have to offer a wide variety of services to get a share of everyone's wallet.

Think Deep, not wide.

Milk your own cows first.