a comment on Opportunities for Covad, Earthlink in FCC Decision

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Glynn, Sean" <Sean.Glynn () Level3 com>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 02:24:51 -0700
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Opportunities for Covad, Earthlink in FCC Decision

"Current WISPs say their biggest problem lies in
backhauling traffic from their customers to the Internet core. Even
when competitive fiber exists, they can't afford to step it down from
the 10 Gpbs speed of a single optical fiber to the 11-54 Mbps their
customers need."

This is exactly what Level 3 does, and better than anyone else out there.
Level 3 does it faster and cheaper.  Covad is just another one of our many
customers that re-sells bandwidth from the Level 3 backbone.  Not only does
Level 3 provide backbone services to competitive carriers such as Covad,
Level 3 also handles traffic from Verizon and Qwest, yes Qwest.  I agree
that tremendous opportunities exist for the likes of Earthlink in the WISP
space, but to assume that the major obstacle in this opportunity is
obtaining cheap back-haul bandwidth and installing the equipment to groom
traffic down to the required rates is simply wrong.  I would think that
issues such as signal interference and security are much greater in the WISP
space.


Sean Glynn
Level (3) 
Communications
Core NOC-Transport
sean.glynn () level3 com
(720) 888-7865



-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 4:58 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Opportunities for Covad, Earthlink in FCC Decision



------ Forwarded Message
From: Kevin Marks <kmarks () mac com>
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:54:54 -0800
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Blankenhorn: the opportunity is in WISPs

http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/20030201.shtml#22248

Opportunities for Covad, Earthlink in FCC Decision

Yesterday's FCC decision offers great opportunities to companies like
Covad and Earthlink, if those opportunities are seized.

First, they need to understand that the Bells are their enemies. The
Bells did everything they could to throw them out of business in this
proceeding, and will continue to use lawyers and lobbyists to crush
them, without mercy. You cannot, and should not, do business with them.
Understand that. This knowledge is powerful.

Now, the Bells are being pushed heavily to invest in fiber. If they
don't, regulators are going to hammer on them, not just in Washington
but in 50 state capitols. Fiber to the home is the industry's great
promise, and if the promise goes unfulfilled, the Bells will have a
tough time maintaining their equillibrium and keeping those lobbyists
fed. So what investments they do make will be in extending optical
fiber closer to residential and business customers.

This leaves the Wireless ISP space wide-open. Earthlink has an
opportunity to become a mega-WISP. It must extend its footprint, and
work to gradually switch its present DSL and cable customers to
wireless. The feds are giving them three years. (That's when they must
re-negotiate their DSL access contrats at rates the Bells want.) It's
an opportunity that should be seized.

So what will be Earthlink's biggest problem in seizing that
opportunity? Current WISPs say their biggest problem lies in
backhauling traffic from their customers to the Internet core. Even
when competitive fiber exists, they can't afford to step it down from
the 10 Gpbs speed of a single optical fiber to the 11-54 Mbps their
customers need.

This is Covad's opportunity. Multiplex the fiber, then use wireless
cable to get those signals to WISP central offices. (A WISP central
office is simply an antenna to take backhaul, antennaes to receive
subscriber signals, and some boxes to link the two.) If Covad is
representing several fiber operators, they can arbitrage prices that
are good for WISPs and provide serious margins to Covad. They can also
provide services (security, spam filtering, etc.) that minimize a
WISP's need for backhaul.

Yes, this means going from a retail to a wholesale perspective. But
Covad was never seriously into the residential market anyway. They have
three years to make this transition, and if they don't they die. The
knowledge you're to die in the morning is a great motivator.

With Covad (or companies like it, or new companies) acting as "fiber
middleware" suppliers, and Earthlink (or companies like it) investing
heavily in last-mile WISP solutions for customers, the Bells will be
effectively bypassed. And voice calls are really just a low-bandwidth
data service.


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