Of all the names in telecom, only one has the history of AT&T. AT&T was the name of the phone company since we were kids, and in fact since our parents and our grandparents were kids. It would have been sad and a waste of all that historic brand value.

248

Nextel is going to need a couple of buffers, and the lack of interoperability is one. If they didn't have these buffers, they'd be in serious trouble.

184

Hopefully WorldCom will not use its debt-free status to start a price war.

176

Is SBC buying at the right price? That's the key. It could cost less to do a deal in a year.

158

Wireless is too dependent on the external power supply. And since wireless phones are becoming the main phone line for many people, the industry has to make sure that customers have the same kind of reliability as with landlines.

153

The problem with telecom is not only that it's going through the same economic issues as the rest of the market, but that it's also an industry in transition. Five years ago, AT&T's primary competitors were MCI and Sprint, and now it's the Bells and cable companies. Investors aren't sure what the industry is going to look like and which horse to put their $2 bet on.

132

If the FCC takes a hands-off approach, it'll be like flipping a switch, and the lights will all come on for every Internet executive. Any company that has a huge Internet customer base, it's a natural.

125

The directories business is not going away. But everything telecom related is in a state of flux.

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