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Peter
| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

telecommunications

Broadband Stimulus Bill details

January 20, 2009

More Broadband Stimulus Bill (and here at TMC) info from Stephen Ronan on the CyberTelecom listserv.  (probably in response to the volume of comments from Tom Keatings blog!)

Can anyone provide a pointer to the bill at issue?

The summary of the principal broadband provisions below:

1) $2.825 billion for loans, loan guarantees and grants to be administered by the USDA's Rural Utilities Service Distance Learning, Tele-medicine and Broadband Program.

VoIP and the Economy

January 20, 2009

VoIP originally was sold as the answer to the next wave of cost savings for consumers and especially for small business. Business phone lines have always cost more than residential lines because, in theory, businesses use the phone line more often. (I guess, if you have 2 teenagers then that equals 1 small business).

Now that businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, analysts are predicting a rise in VoIP sales. Maybe.

A Day of Collaboration

January 13, 2009

Tech Data and Fonality Inked a distro deal.The bloggers like VAR Guy made it sound like Tech Data was going into managed services under the whole UC umbrella. It's just one more set of SKU's for Tech Data's IP PBX category.

New Edge Networks announced Voice Connect as an extension of its MPLS service to deliver VoIP to end offices with QOS. "Voice Connect services include Hosted IP PBX, SIP Trunking and enterprise class features, with a variety of service options for locations requiring only a few voice lines to supporting the needs of large corporations."

Another look at AFS

January 12, 2009

After spending much of 2H09 campaigning for ILEC Forbearance because he claims that the CLEC model has failed in the US, American Fiber Systems' Dave Rusin is interviewed by TMC's Rich Tehrani (video).

My problem with Dave is that he acts like he is CEO of a major telecom company. But according to Inc., AFS is only a $40M company with about 150 employees. It's a fiber only company.

The Road Ahead: Telecom Agent Keynote

January 9, 2009

I was lucky enough to be chosen to give the keynote for TMC's Telecom Agent Day at the Internet Telephony East Expo in Miami Beach on Feb. 3.

The Road Ahead:  So you want to know what tomorrow has in store? Come to this session to hear all about the opportunities that are waiting just ahead. The speaker will address the trends and the recent activity in the market and come away with a plan for addressing the challenges ahead.

So I would like to know what YOU think is coming down the pike. I spoke with Dan Goodwin at ATC this morning who expressed that agents need to be experts and on top of their game to be able to handle the constant change in this industry.



Level3 Stock in Trouble

December 31, 2008

Rocky Mountain News reports that Level3 "remains unprofitable, mired in more than $6 billion in debt, and shares have fallen to less than 70 cents. Ordinarily, Level 3 stock would be delisted, but Nasdaq has suspended the $1 minimum requirement until April 9 because of the country's economic turmoil."  With revenues flat, L3 is looking to give itself time to repay all of its debt to forego bankruptcy.

Fox and MarketWatch reported that "Level 3 Communications Inc. had its corporate credit rating cut to SD, or selective default, from CC by Standard & Poor's. S&P also lowered ratings on Level 3's convertible subordinated notes due 2010 to D from C."  In addition, Level3 changed its stock buy back plan -- and is having trouble getting takers.

IT Folks Chatting About Communications

December 9, 2008

During a discussion online, some interesting items popped up.

Companies ban Instant Message. One IT Security Consultant looks at the irony of it here. Tele-Presence is all about improved efficiency in communicating -- no more phone tag, less voicemail, that kind of thing -- but how will that be implemented in a corporate environment that locks it down?

Social networking like LinkedIn and Twitter are becoming commonplace among the marketing set.



Microcorp Insite is Insightful Now

December 8, 2008

December 8, 2008 - In its annual twelve day count down of hot telecom and data services that their members should watch in the next year, Telecom Association ("TA") choose MicroCorp's telecom inventory management tool "Insite" on the first day.

"In 2009, because of the economy, business owners and managers will focus on getting more out of the telecom and data services they already have", stated TA Founder Dan Baldwin.

MicroCorp's Insite is a contract and carrier agnostic telecom inventory management tool that helps telecom consultants, agents, and their business clients answer the obvious question, "What are the telecom and data services I already have?"

Fairpoint Rural IPTV

December 3, 2008

Fairport is trialing out IPTV in a New Hampshire town. As DSLR points out, VZ couldn't (or wouldn't) roll out fiber to the New England tri-state region, but Fairpoint thinks it can. How when Fairpoint got stuck with such huge debt over the deal with VZ that the PUC offices of the 3 states weren't certain that Fairpoint could remain solvent.

Fairpoint doesn't have much choice as TWC has launched digital voice service in region causing POTS line loss for Fairpoint.

Is there any value left to Telecom?

December 1, 2008

Let's examine today's telecommunications sales landscape:

Case 1: If the pricing starts discounted at $9000, but ends up being sold at $2700, is there value in Telecom?

Case 2: If Carrier A sells a 1GB Private line for $17K between two lit buildings, how can Carrier B offer the same for $6800? 

Case 3: If BellSouth used to charge a company $680 for their service and now presents a "Winback" offer of $320, what's the deal?

Where's the value? Or is there none and it's just a matter of putting revenue on the books, any revenue?







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