That makes sense. Well stated
Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Goldstein
To: WISPA General List
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 1:08 PM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Ericsson is buying BelAir, betting on Wi-Fi
At 2/1/2012 12:28 PM, Tom DeReggi wrote:
> Earthlink has established quite the fiber and CLEC footprint.
Thats an interesting topic.... Really? So they aren't primarilly still
just marketing and reselling off other CLEC's infrastructure, like they used to?
I'm aware of the Atlanta project, where Earthlink was gonna do Fiber and
CLEC stuff, but not aware of progress since then, or if they expanded to new
markets.
The dream of owning the whole network is still far off for most Earthink
types. Sure they can buy Fiber transport and peer like anyone else, heck Fiber
backbones are almost as cheap as buying Wireless backhaul in many markets the
last year or two. The trend is buy Darkfiber, Gig-E or 10G fiber for transport
and interconnect to the data center, and call yourself an ISP. But then there
is still the last mile, which is still mostly copper, that has to be bought
wholesale from someone, or a risky model if one tries to build their own at the
COs this late into the game.
Because of that, I had still visioned Earthlink as a "reseller".
Earthlink has bought up a number of CLECs, making them one of the larger
facilities-based CLECs. This is indeed quite a change from their origins as a
consumer-oriented ISP. Now they are selling large-ticket business accounts. It
was probably a smart move, since wireline ISPs have had a hard time of it, what
with the general loss of common carriage and the ILECs' ridiculously high
Special Access rates. As a CLEC, though, they can at least get some DS1 loops
at lower (UNE) prices, and run their own DSL over short loops. Plus they get
the regular CLEC product offerings.
The cable MSOs are, in general, run by real business people who look at real
profit potential. This is in contrast to telcos, for whom profit is merely an
assumption, an entitlement to be granted while they pursue their goals of
power, control, and monopoly. Since cablecos have no entitlement of profit, no
USF, they don't invest where it doesn't make sense.
WiFi, however, is chump change. They clamp an access point onto the
messenger, tap into the DOCSIS for upstream, and they cover a few hundred feet
of urban radius. This is much cheaper than a mobile network, practically a
rounding error in their finances. Clearwire was a loser. SpectrumCo turned
out to be profitable in resale, not as an operating entity. They can
experiment with WiFi on a small scale, though, and see what kind of business
potential it has. Because it's their own backhaul, the OpEx is minimal.
--
Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com
ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/
+1 617 795 2701
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