Now if it was $5 billion...

August 17, 2005

Guess who will be cool as a cucumber if SBC spits the bit on its $4 billion IPTV service?� The guy who's heading up the project, naturally.� I can definitely see where he's coming from.��It's not like there's a lot of money at stake or anything.

Yes,�SBC Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson has won Telecom Watch's first "Open Mouth, Insert Foot Award(tm)" for the following comment made to a USA Today reporter:�

�If I bet wrong, I didn't break the future of this business. For a company of this size, $4 billion is very little money. If I bet wrong, it's not much money for us to burn.�

The article appears here: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050817/sbcside.art.htm

This can't be the same SBC that claimed to the FCC that it was losing�money�hand over fist because it was required to�lease�its lines to�competitors, thereby limiting investment in its network build out.�

Here's�a rule to live by: If�your company can�shake off a loss of an amount of money that has a number followed by nine zeros, there ain't nothin' cutting into your profits.��

I know I should be somewhat dismayed by the statement, but,�quite frankly, I'm impressed. I mean, I can't recall any time in my life where any amount of money was "very little money."�

I'm afraid to burn a CD for fear that I might scratch or break something, yet Stephenson casually discusses the possibility of throwing $4 billion out the window like it's confetti on VE-Day.

Actually, the�comment that really caught my eye�comes later in the article, when�Stephenson discusses�SBC's aggressive IPTV rollout strategy compared with Verizon's more cautious approach.�

"Necessity is the mother of invention,"�Stephenson said.

Ironic considering�what many believe is the�re-monopolozation of the telecommuncations market, which will eliminate competition, thereby�eliminating the necessity to spur invention.