Comments on: Dear Government: It’s Time To Use The Battering Ram On The RLEC Drawbridges. http://www.telecomstraightshooter.com/2009/02/12/dear-government-it%e2%80%99s-time-to-use-the-battering-ram-on-the-rlec-drawbridges/ Not all telecom executives are created equal... Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:29:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: wbrache http://www.telecomstraightshooter.com/2009/02/12/dear-government-it%e2%80%99s-time-to-use-the-battering-ram-on-the-rlec-drawbridges/comment-page-1/#comment-699 wbrache Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:58:10 +0000 http://www.telecomstraightshooter.com/?p=120#comment-699 Dave Rusin Replies: Dear Teddy: Thank you for responding in kind to my blog. Sometimes I print bodacious items or references to drive a reaction. Given the traffic I have on this blog, I am amazed that more people don't question me. Anyhow, beyond the King and Queen analogy of envy, there are two different RLECs out there - the biggies like a Century Tel and lots of little guys. I think the bigger RLECs need to get off the government dole, they have scale and borrowing capacity. But in this day and age of Obamanomics, I highly doubt the government teat is going away anytime soon. The small RLECs, and common sense tells us that the areas served are by small RLECs are economically small and have limited growth. An ability to support a second carrier should be something left up to an open market and technology evolution in these small markets. Why? You know as well as I, it's the ongoing opex that makes the small RLEC model difficult and opex does not go away. This is a concern I have on the great Obama NTIA program ... carriers will get capex to build but a few years down the road, the ongoing opex will drive insolvency. If the NTIA/RUS wants to focus on small Rural Carriers - they should incent investment by small carriers into wider band technologies. I think competitor #2 would be a tax payer disaster for everyone involved. That said, I would rather be dealing with the Government on funds. We have been funded by Venture Capital --- we should switch places sometime. On my preaching straying, at one time in my life I considered becoming a Priest. That calling has had more to do with how I react to life and situations presented to me more than anything else. I have experienced the worse humanity has to offer. There are reasons things happen and usually in hindsight, you can figure out why and the guidance received. Thanks for writing. Dave PS: Teddy, did you know on spell checker that RLEC comes up as relic? Dave Rusin Replies:

Dear Teddy:

Thank you for responding in kind to my blog. Sometimes I print bodacious items or references to drive a reaction. Given the traffic I have on this blog, I am amazed that more people don’t question me.

Anyhow, beyond the King and Queen analogy of envy, there are two different RLECs out there – the biggies like a Century Tel and lots of little guys. I think the bigger RLECs need to get off the government dole, they have scale and borrowing capacity. But in this day and age of Obamanomics, I highly doubt the government teat is going away anytime soon.

The small RLECs, and common sense tells us that the areas served are by small RLECs are economically small and have limited growth. An ability to support a second carrier should be something left up to an open market and technology evolution in these small markets. Why? You know as well as I, it’s the ongoing opex that makes the small RLEC model difficult and opex does not go away. This is a concern I have on the great Obama NTIA program … carriers will get capex to build but a few years down the road, the ongoing opex will drive insolvency. If the NTIA/RUS wants to focus on small Rural Carriers – they should incent investment by small carriers into wider band technologies. I think competitor #2 would be a tax payer disaster for everyone involved.

That said, I would rather be dealing with the Government on funds. We have been funded by Venture Capital — we should switch places sometime.

On my preaching straying, at one time in my life I considered becoming a Priest. That calling has had more to do with how I react to life and situations presented to me more than anything else. I have experienced the worse humanity has to offer. There are reasons things happen and usually in hindsight, you can figure out why and the guidance received.

Thanks for writing.

Dave

PS: Teddy, did you know on spell checker that RLEC comes up as relic?

]]> By: Teddy Solomon http://www.telecomstraightshooter.com/2009/02/12/dear-government-it%e2%80%99s-time-to-use-the-battering-ram-on-the-rlec-drawbridges/comment-page-1/#comment-698 Teddy Solomon Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:35:02 +0000 http://www.telecomstraightshooter.com/?p=120#comment-698 Dave, if you were a preacher this is the sermon where I would scold you for straying from preaching to meddling. :) You enjoy a world where you have thousands of customers per route mile to provide you with the money to pay for expensive infrastructure. We, on the other hand, only have a few customers per route mile. It is obvious that you have never lived in the country...no, not a country estate, I am talking about the real sticks. Besides, the big ILECs are buying legislation that will take away all access money and the wireless guys are eating away at our base customers. Rural phone companies have provided excellent service for years and the smart ones are still providing outstanding useful and necessary services to our customers that are neglected by companies that only concentrate on "metro" and don't even recognize us as anything other than "flyover" areas. God was going to explain this to you in one of the calls that you refused to take. Dave, if you were a preacher this is the sermon where I would scold you for straying from preaching to meddling. :)
You enjoy a world where you have thousands of customers per route mile to provide you with the money to pay for expensive infrastructure. We, on the other hand, only have a few customers per route mile.

It is obvious that you have never lived in the country…no, not a country estate, I am talking about the real sticks.

Besides, the big ILECs are buying legislation that will take away all access money and the wireless guys are eating away at our base customers. Rural phone companies have provided excellent service for years and the smart ones are still providing outstanding useful and necessary services to our customers that are neglected by companies that only concentrate on “metro” and don’t even recognize us as anything other than “flyover” areas.

God was going to explain this to you in one of the calls that you refused to take.

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