It looks obvious

Here is the story about the dedicated regulators who broke the telecom monopoly and open the telecom market to competition, or maybe not…

One might wonder who much worse would it be without the government’s involvement, can’t be much worse.

(Via GigaOm)

Technorati Tags: AT&T - Telecom - Monopoly - FCC - The Free Market - Competition

Although this law suit haw no merit it  was obvious  that it is coming. I understand the disappointment and the anxiety of those who bought Vonage’s shares, ignoring the obvious risks. However I don’t understand what is the logic in claiming that IPO was based on basically a fraud and hiding of  crucial  information. 

When one decides to invest in the stock markets they cannot choose to be ignorant; direct investment requires some sophistication and knowledge that most people don’t have. Moreover, even without investing time and learning Vonage’s financial status , and only from reading newspapers, it was obvious to me that investing in Vonage is a risk I don’t want to take. Others choose differently and they have only themselves to blame .

I’m a Vonage   customer  for  long time , In Vonage terms 19 months is like eternity. When I found about their new product, the V-phone , I thought it would be nice to have one so when I’m on the road I don’t need to re-configure my home network and to carry the router I got when I joined Vonage.

Calling Vonage customer service, to inquire about the V-phone and to find out how can I configure it with the same phone number I have at home, was amazing experience.  My call was routed to an offshore location, which I wouldn’t mind if their English wasn’t worse than mine and if they would actually talk with me instead of reading me scripts. My request to keep the same number that I have now on both the router and the V-phone and being charged for additional line was too much for the person I spoke with to handle and all she could tell me was that I will need to pay additional $29 disconnect fee.

I’m considering switching my VoIP provider to a company that can give me real service - considering the options it probably would not be more expensive.

Back in April I expressed my disappointment from GTalk, claiming that Google wasted time instead of developing a serious VoIP solution. Furthermore I cannot see in GTalk any advantage comparing to other IM products or skype .

Different strategic approach was slightly revealed in a small report on today’s Wall Street Journal . Apparently Microsoft decided to invest its efforts in the business market and less in the residential market.  Incorporating  the phone service with other  products  of Microsoft will make its product extremely competitive and would have a great impact on the VoIP market.

For long time I’m looking to see how the market will shape itself when the big software companies will start to compete directly with the traditional telecom companies. It seems like we are much closer to see it now.

Link: Microsoft Wants Your Office Telephone

Today Microsoft is set to announce a broad initiative into the business telephone market, including desktop phones and videoconferencing devices designed by Microsoft and sold by partners, with some available as soon as June 2007. Microsoft software programs would link the new phones to computers so that they can handle voice functions, such as making a phone call and receiving voice mail.

The plan sets the stage for Microsoft to take on other giants, such as Cisco Systems Inc., Avaya Inc. and Nortel Networks Inc., in the industry march to replace traditional phone systems with more flexible and cheaper Internet technologies.

New Internet-based technologies make it easier to use software and servers to combine email, voice mail, voice calling, conferencing and instant-messaging in a single system. Historically, most business phones have been managed by proprietary switching systems — called private branch exchanges, or PBXs — that are separate from servers managing email and other office communications.

Microsoft’s plan significantly escalates its move into a high-priority market where it has had few major successes to date. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for years has been pushing Microsoft to move into the voice business. The strategy is based partly on the belief that voice communications eventually will be managed by servers that use Microsoft software and a chip-design pioneered by Intel Corp. — the same combination that reshaped personal computers decades ago.

 

 

With The telecom and the cable companies entering into the VoIP market, Skype offering free phone calls in USA until the end of the year and customer acquisition price that cost more than the earning – no wonder Vonage IPO is the worst in two years .

Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp.’s initial public offering encountered shareholder static Wednesday, turning in the worst IPO debut in nearly two years.

Vonage’s stock opened at $17 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, flat with its initial public offering price, and declined from there. It ended the day at $14.85 a share, down 12.6%

It was the worst IPO debut since nanotechnology firm Lumera Corp., whose stock lost 13.5% of its value on its first day of trading in July 2004, according to data tracker Thomson Financial.

But when Vonage’s executive think they had bad day, they just need to see it in the right perspective .

Dealing with Qwest wasn’t my best business experience. As a business to business I found dealing with them almost the worst from the RBOC’s . However today I’m only praising Qwest and its management. While all the other Telecom companies granted the NSA request to our private information Qwest alone declined this request .

Apparently not only I think that the latest decision of the FCC is ridicules :

The skepticism expressed so openly toward the government’s case during a hearing in U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia emboldened a broad group of civil liberties and education groups who argued that the U.S. improperly applied telephone-era rules to a new generation of Internet services.

"Your argument makes no sense," U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission, Jacob Lewis. "When you go back to the office, have a big chuckle. I’m not missing this. This is ridiculous."

At another point in the hearing, Judge Edwards told the FCC’s lawyer his arguments were "gobbledygook" and "nonsense." The court’s decision was expected within several months.

Judge Edwards appeared skeptical over the FCC’s decision to require that providers of Internet phone service and broadband services must ensure their equipment can accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA. The new rules go into effect in May 2007.

Maybe we still have some hope.

It becomes scarier every day. Not only that human rights being violated, we are taxed for it!

Obviously the issue is more complex than that, as some might jump. National security issues aren’t simple black and white, and we are giving up some of our liberties in sake of security. But it seems that we are taking it into extreme. We can practically can invade and violate any liberty because terrorist might abuse it, but the goal is to protect liberties not to take them away; And to make us pay for this pleasure? But in the other hand what can you expect from the FCC ?

Link:  FCC approves Net-wiretapping taxes

Om has, as usual, very good summary about the competition between the cable companies and the telecom companies. I’m just wondering if, and mostly when, are we going to see mergers between cable companies and telecom?  I’m aware to the different technologies and the risks of such mergers, but the advantages are enormous.

After reading this :

Everything is really clear and simple.

what? No?