Hope that more than a few here will be interested in some of my recent conclusions - from the November issue that I just published.
Why a Layered Model is the Only Reasonable Way to Evaluate Telecom
Lines of Business Have Blurred - Making the Regulatory Concept of Vertical Silos Archaic
Time Has Come to Bury All "Bellhead versus Nethead" Polemics
Introduction
Since the bubble burst in late 2000 sending the Internet and the rest of telecom into a tailspin, it has been rather obvious that former stability and predictability of the economics of telecommunications has been shattered. The last several issues of The COOK Report have explored the fallout of those shattered economics in great detail.
In this introduction The COOK Report notes that telecom economics is likely to stay broken, first, due to oversupply, and second due to lack of differentiation on anything other than price across too many competitors in services and service providers. Third: because of very loosely bonded brand loyalty. A final and very serious additional problem is regulatory instability as the FCC struggles with historical precedent in its interpretation of legislation. It finds itself whip-sawed between its "vertical silo" model derived from the technology it regulates, and the increasingly advocated "horizontal network layer view" of the IP enabled services, including but not limited to VoIP, Video over IP, and so on.
As long-term, and, perhaps, not so long term, readers of The COOK Report are aware, this publication has not only long trumpeted the "bellhead vs. nethead" divide, but taken a partisan position where anything seen to be "bell-headed" was regarded as bad while "netheaded" was seen as the 'nirvana' to which the Internet would guide telecommunications.
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For the remainder of my Bury "Bellhead versus Nethead" Polemics article please see