[Asterisk-Users] Sprint Nextel sueing over VoIP patents

[Rich Adamson]

> I wouldn't think anyone would consider Sprint a dying company. They just
> acquired Nextel so they've got money to spend.
> 
> Maybe as an ILEC (which they are here in Ohio) they are viewing Vonage
> and Voiceglo as a force that needs to be stopped to prevent further
> eroding of their POTS network. I know that I cost SBC money when I
> dropped them for Vonage. They aren't getting the $$ for that line
> installed to my home anymore. (Which makes me downright giddy when I
> think about it.) Imagine if my whole neighborhood switched after SBC had
> built-out facilities... that would cost SBC a lot of money. They put
> those POTS lines in counting on them being active and producing income
> for a long time. Even if service is provided by a CLEC, the line makes
> money for the ILEC. But if the line is switched off before the payoff
> horizon, they lose money.

Having been in the telephony business for a long time (and know a number
of Sprint Corp employees), all telco's in the US are loosing lines (and 
associated revenue) primarily to Cellular, and a small amount to the 
Vonage-type services including those in the local cable business.

Sprint's documents prior to the vote to merge with Nextel indicated 
their intent was to spin off the local telco's, with the longer range
intent of selling them or trading for other non-telco properties.
Two large US communications companies reportedly are interested in
discussing such deals with Sprint/Nextel.

The merger with Nextel is suppose to be creating a very competitive
cellular business, with lots of economies to be gained from consolidating
tower space/rental (duplicate facilities on the same tower in many
locations) and from duplicate staffs.

Sprint's long distance sub was basically converted to voip a long time
ago, but that LD network was managed as a closed/internal network that
most customers had no direct access to. That network still exists, but
its primarily carrying internal traffic including PCS cellular traffic.
You can guess what it will be used for with the merged PCS and Nextel
facilities.

Their stated intent includes the delivery of other digital services
to customers, but they've not tipped their hat (publicly) as to what 
those services might consist of just yet. Obviously, their customer
base will look completely different then what it is today, and will
likely be focused on a much larger population after the local telco
spin off.

As a consulting group, our company has been working with several smaller
telcos. Some already have the fiber facilities in place (even in their
largely rural serving areas) to provide digital tv signals to every
single customer. The majority are also deploying voip to any of their 
customers that want it. And, a few are waiting for the WiMax stuff
to settle down before they deploy that as well. (The smaller telcos
are far more nibble then the big 10.)

Rich