The last week of February usually offers a little down-time for the telecom industry in the wake of the always-exuberant Mobile World Congress, and before the busy spring product launch and trade show season kicks into gear. No such luck this week, as two significant meetings--Qwest's analyst event and the FCC's traffic-shaping hearing--are taking place Monday, and two conferences compete for industry expense accounts and eyeballs. It's a good thing we get an extra day in February this year.
Not too long ago, we had a poll asking which trade show sets the tone for the telecom industry. CTIA's annual spring wireless convention was the early and obvious leader, though NXTcomm fans came out of the woodwork a little later to give NXTcomm the lead.
But, there continues to be a number of smaller conferences and events also capturing the industry's interest, and two of those are going on this week. Comptel 2008 in Nashville is drawing the competitive service provider crowd together, with executives like Arunas Chesonis, CEO of Paetec Holding Corp, and Dan Caruso, CEO of Zayo Group, set for appearances. Given the recent M&A moves of both those companies, I do believe they will have something to say about the ongoing consolidation of the competitive carrier sector.
Meanwhile, OFC/NFOEC, the annual gathering of the industry's optical elite, is happening out in San Diego. We'll be watching the Web for the next few days for big news coming out of both these events.
For more:
- here's some early OFC/NFOEC news at Light Reading
- Dan