Just a few days before my wife and I pack up the kids to go to Grandma's house (okay, my mother-in-law lives down the street) to stuff our faces with turkey, stuffing and pondering why the Detroit Lions get to play again on Thanksgiving, I have been spending my time lately hunting for 2009's telecom turkeys.
While it's clear that the worldwide economy continues to drive service providers to be more cautious with their spending--a fact that unfortunately hurts the vendor community's short-term Wall Street goals--it's hard not to notice some of the major gaffes that have taken place in the wireline segment of the telecom industry this year.
Thus far, I have come up with five: the fall of Nortel; FairPoint's struggle to get a handle on the New England lines it bought from Verizon; France Telecom's suicides; Nokia Siemens Networks struggle for recovery; and finally who can forget good ol' Joe Nacchio's ongoing appeals to be freed from jail for his insider trading sins. 
[1]So after you let your stomach settle a bit and before you dive into a big piece of apple pie, take a look at FierceTelecom's Top Five Telecom Turkeys for 2009 here [1].
Since I know many of you won't agree with my choices, or may even have other even better suggestions, I invite you to share your thoughts with us.
With that in hand, please have a great Thanksgiving holiday.
After tomorrow's edition, FierceTelecom will be taking a break on Thursday and Friday, but we'll be back on Monday to provide you with all of this holiday season's exciting telecom news.
--Sean [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercetelecom.com/special-reports/top-telecom-turkeys-2009
[2] mailto:sbuckley@fiercemarkets.com