Day 2 Show ShowDaily produced by COMPTEL Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006 — Vol. 6, No. 2 Published by: PAETEC CEO: ‘We Need to Work Better Together’ ”We need to work better together,” said Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PAETEC not to dampen renewed enthusiasm for competitive business models among the Communications Inc., in his keynote yesterday, addressing an audience of com- investment community. petitive providers. “The last mile is what’s going to prevent a lot of us from doing what we want “We are just a small part of the telecom universe,” he said. “We should do to. ... One thing that would help us is if we are going to ask incumbents for access, more work together. ...We are not each other’s real competition.” we need to provide that same unbundled access to them.” Chesonis, who has been in the spotlight lately because of PAETEC’s pending Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL, said Chesonis’ com- merger with US LEC, said CLECs should sell ments in a high-profile forum reflected discus- networks to each other to help strengthen the sions at yesterday’s CEO Council meeting and competitive market as a whole. were a “tremendous help” to the association’s He also encouraged competitors to step “We are just a small part of the telecom efforts on behalf of the competitive industry. back and “look at the big picture.” He said this universe. We should do more work together. ... “It’s indicative of a conversation that’s going is particularly true of lobbying efforts. “We We are not each other’s real competition.” on among senior executives,” he said, noting need to focus at a macro level,” he said. “The that the “co-opetition” concept is beginning to only way it can happen is by being engaged as — PAETEC's Arunas Chesonis be put into practice as it becomes socialized officers” of the companies. more and more. “It’s a dialog that needs to He challenged competitors to educate and{ }take place.” mobilize customers and employees to help send a message to Congress that As reported earlier, Comstock has said one of the goals for COMPTEL is PAETEC’s Arunas Chesonis, chairman and CEO, shares his access to incumbent networks is key to long-term survival for competitors. to develop proactive messaging for the membership’s lobbying activities in the company’s recipe for success, in hopes competitive carriers will He said leaders must resist the urge to gloss over their challenges in trying coming years. work together more to provide alternatives for end users. COMPTEL Elects New Board Members Show Business ... COMPTEL members elected new representatives to its board of directors at its annual meeting yesterday. The association re-elected three directors in the small member category, including Homisco/VoiceNet, Remi Communications Inc. and Vox Communications Corp. Fones4All was elected to a first term representing the small member category, which includes companies of annual revenue of under $25 million. In the medium-sized member category, which includes companies of annual revenue of $25 million to $300 million, three board members were re-elected. They include Eschelon Telecom Inc., Pac-West Telecomm Inc. and TDS Metrocom. Two new board members were added, including FPL Fibernet and Globalcom Inc. In the large member category, which includes companies with annual revenue over $300 million, all four board seats remained with the incumbents. These included Broadwing Communications LLC, IDT Corp., ITC^DeltaCom Inc. and Nuvox Communications. Casino Night Rocks and Rolls Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL, cuts the ceremonial ribbon as COMPTEL Chairman Sherm Henderson of Samantha Ocampo of telx tries out the one-armed bandit Show attendees try their luck at one of the Lightyear Network Solutions welcomes attendees to the show. at Casino Night sponsored by Vanco. Vanco-sponsored Casino Night tables. (See story on Page 15) Midterm Elections Could Atlantic-ACM Delivers Change Regulatory Landscape Carrier Excellence Awards Washington is a tense place to be right now, said one panelist during COMPTEL’s legislative update session on Research firm Atlantic-ACM announced its first metro wholesale awards and its global wholesale awards Monday. With the midterm elections just a few weeks away, everyone in telecom is on tenterhooks, waiting to see who to carriers yesterday at the COMPTEL PLUS Convention. will lead House and Senate committees that guide communications law. If the Democrats win in November, the House The metro carrier awards are based on the company’s 2006 Metro Carrier Report Card, which evaluates and Senate Judiciary Committees, and the House and Senate Commerce Committees, all will have new leaders. That the performance of metro carriers by their wholesale and enterprise customers and is based on more than 5,000 likely would lead to a revamping of the rewrite that has waited for a Senate vote since this summer, or it could mean individual evaluations of carriers. throwing out the proposed bill altogether. Matters of contention include net neutrality and whether Congress should Winners included AT&T Inc. for impose a national video franchising system, a change the Bells have spent millions of dollars lobbying to achieve. best-in-class business SONET prod- Telecom further is not a Republican-versus-Democrat subject, said COMPTEL President and CEO Earl Comstock. ucts; XO Communications Inc. for “The idea that this is a partisan issue is a mistake,” he said. “Our biggest issue is the messaging,” he added, explaining wholesale VoIP products; Cbeyond the competitive industry needs to outline its agenda clearly and band together to fight for it. Communications for retail business In the meantime — as well as after the elections — competitive carriers should be talking to their representatives, said PRI products; BellSouth Corp. for Pete Leon, COMPTEL’s new vice president of legislative affairs (he replaced Robert McDowell, who now serves as an retail business local voice products; FCC commissioner). To prove that point, Leon scrolled through a slideshow of hot races around the country and showed Cox Communications for retail busi- which CLECs are based in those states. Politicians “should know who you are, and I don’t think they do,” he said. ness local access and direct Internet Fellow panelists Patrick Thompson, vice president of legislative affairs for Covad Communications Inc., and access; Time Warner Telecom for Comstock, added that CLEC execs should push for meetings with their state representatives, so they can impress upon retail business Ethernet products; and them the importance of a competitive industry. And, the panelists noted, even though there is an ever-dwindling chance a PAETEC Communications Inc. for telecom rewrite will become law this year, competitive carriers should take the time to present concise arguments to their best wholesale PRI products. Level 3 representatives. “Clear communication is very helpful,” said Thompson, who used to work on the Hill. He emphasized Communications Inc. won multiple staff members serve as gatekeepers for members of Congress and getting past those gatekeepers takes a well-constructed awards for best wholesale local access, message. “Tell your story,” Thompson said. “Let it be known you’re not a fly-by-night company.” Ethernet, direct Internet access, busi- ness transport and dark fiber products. Qwest Communications International From left to right, Fedor Smith, vice president, Atlantic-ACM; Inc. also was recognized in multiple Arunas Chesonis, chairman and CEO, PAETEC; Glenn Russo, group vice president, Level 3; David West, national account manager, Cox categories, including wholesale local Communications; Roland Thornton, executive vice president of voice, transport, SONET and direct wholesale markets, Qwest; Judy Reed Smith, CEO, Atlantic-ACM; Internet access. Atlantic-ACM also Earl Comstock, president and CEO, COMPTEL; Matt Petersen, recognized six best-in-class metro part- director of product marketing, BT; Mike Hurley, vice president of ners. BellSouth was named best ILEC/ sales and marketing, Fibertech Networks; Tom Marx, vice president RBOC metro service partner while of national accounts, Time Warner Telecom; John Irwin, vice presi- Cox Communications was named best dent of carrier sales, BellSouth; and Jeff George, vice president, MSO service partner and PAETEC AT&T Wholesale. best CLEC service partner. Progress Telecom (now Level 3) was named best regional-to-national fiber-based service partner. American Fiber Systems was best metro-specific, fiber-based wholesale service partner while Fibertech Networks was named best metro-specific, fiber-based retail business partner. Global wholesale awards went to BT for provisioning and customer interface; AT&T for billing, customer service, network performance and quality of voice products; and Verizon Communications Inc. for brand, sales reps and quality of data products. Competition Champion Succumbs From left to right, Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL; Patrick Thompson, vice president of legislative affairs for Covad; and Pete Leon, COMPTEL’s new vice president of legislative affairs, talk about the issues on Capitol Hill that will influence the future of the competitive industry. to Lou Gehrig’s Disease George Vinall, a former executive vice president of business development for Talk America, died over the weekend from the neuromuscular disease ALS — or Lou Gehrig’s disease, with which he was diagnosed seven years ago. Despite complications from the illness, Vinall refused to retire or slow down. He continued Nextlink Offers Turnkey, to advocate for competitive telecom causes and was recognized in February of 2004 as one of COMPTEL’s Champions of Competition. Self-Serve Wireless Reseller Options Vinall had been in telecom for nearly 30 years, and the last few proved to be some of his most inspiring. His career began with work as a PacBell computer programmer and he moved into the competitive side of Nextlink Wireless Inc. (Booth 1102), one of the nation’s largest wireless spectrum holders, launched a new reseller the industry in 1979 with Southern Pacific Telecommunications, now Sprint.