2008 in Review and What to Expect in 2009

No Jitter (www.nojitter.com)
Hank Levine and Jim Blaszak

In 2008, businesses procured inter-city telecommunications services from an already highly concentrated, but in some cases very competitive, industry. We don’t expect major changes to the telecom industry structure in 2009. Change in the party controlling the White House and the U.S. Justice Department may, however, preclude further significant industry consolidation in 2009.Sprint seems preoccupied with the wireless side of its business and Qwest just can’t seem to break into the top tier of wireline carriers. That leaves AT&T and Verizon with not quite a duopoly, but something that sometimes feels pretty close. Let’s hope that Sprint can right itself, Qwest becomes a more effective competitor, and/or one or more of the next tier (Level 3, XO, etc) breaks out. All of this has implications for telecom deals.