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Carrier Services
EMBARQ and CenturyTel: Weighing the pros and cons
Ovum's principal analyst says combined company needs to look at new growth opportunities
by By Sean Buckley
Click here to listen to the Audiocast
Mike Sapien, a principal telecom analyst at Ovum Research, talks with Editor in Chief Sean Buckley about the marriage of EMBARQ and CenturyTel and the inevitable consolidation of the Tier 2 ILEC market.
Sapien addresses the following questions in this Audiocast:
• Regardless of whether the merger will be a success, do you believe the marriage of EMBARQ and CenturyTel could be the first shot in the consolidation of the tier 2 ILEC market?
• What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of this marriage?
• In your research note, you mention a lack of a wireless play could be an issue, but they could resolve that by entering into an MVNO relationship with another wireless carrier or by offering wholesale backhaul services. Can you talk about the wireless play for this newly combined company and the significance of these possible scenarios?
• Along with different mentalities around wireless, EMBARQ and CenturyTel had been on somewhat slightly different video paths. While both offer satellite-based TV, CenturyTel has some IPTV rolled out over fiber and copper, while EMBARQ was building a last mile Fiber to the Node (FTTN) network that could support mainly online video. Do you believe that some form of IP-based video will be required to advance their competitive stance against cable?
• Outside of this merger, do you think we'll see other telcos plan similar deals, or will they wait to see how this one turns out?
Click here to listen to the Audiocast
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