Following the lead of my esteemed colleagues over at our sister publication in FierceWireless, I thought I would take my carving knife out and take my own stab at the top telecom turkeys for 2009.
Besides the obvious down economy--a factor that Tom Nolle, President of CIMI Corp. told me late last year is really driving telcos to put projects on hold--there's plenty of meat to go around the telecom industry debacle table in the wireline side of the house.
While I am sure you will come to me with others and will balk at my current selections, there are many highlights that are worth noting: the bankruptcy of one of the largest telecom vendors; a raft of suicides at one of Europe's largest telcos; an independent telco struggling to swallow Verizon's old lines; and, then the former high-flying Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio trying to get out of jail.
Okay, so it may be a bit undiplomatic to point out the faults of others, but perhaps the blunders of these companies should serve as a cautionary tale for others that are considering similar moves in the industry. --Sean [1]
Links:
[1] mailto:sbuckley@fiercemarkets.com
[2] http://www.fiercetelecom.com/special-reports/fairpoint-communications-top-telecom-turkeys-2009