Teleco Mergers & Predictions

Recovered from Archive.org – Apr 1, 1997

 

Glimpse of the Future.

There is a lot going on now that gives insight into the terrain of the future on and off the net.

Bell Atlantic and Nynex have announced plans to merge, forming the largest teleco in the world. Due to a nice quirk in the law this will result in lower ISDN prices for current Nynex users. Nynex also announced plans to align itself with Sprint effectively entering the long distance market. What the hell does all of this mean?

It means that, since the Telecommunications Bill, the country has started merging like crazy making these huge conglomerates more powerful than ever. It seems that electing a slew of Republicans has quickly thrown this country back into Reaganomics. Trickle down Trickle down, when will I see it? Its impossible to see the results accurately from these mergers. I see two possibilties:

ONE: BAD

The new mergers will form huge conglomerates who lobby effectively to a “Big Business” government allowing them to freeze the minimum wage and create a monopolistic atmosphere in business. Small, new business will hit an all time low and labor unions would be beaten into the dust from whence they commeth. The Internet will be regulated into a glorfied cable station making indency and Internet Telephones contraband. Every useful feature of the web will be abolished to make room for credit card encryption and virtual showrooms. Mankind will shrivel into a pale weak shadow of humanity while Steven King writes his 200th book entitiled,Crazy Posessed Thing.

TWO: GOOD

The new mergers will allow several companies to effectively revolutionize the infrastructure of the nation bringing fiber optic cable to the curb of every house connecting each man, woman and child to the internet at ethernet speeds. Video conferencing will not only be commonplace but free of charge. Phone calls to 911 will allow the police to help you administer CPR while you wait for an ambulance. The chef at the bakery will be able to show you the fine wax bride on your wedding cake as you wait for your hair to be quaffed. Email, pagers, fax machines, cellular phones, voicemail, and personal diaries will be integrated into a single hand held unit. International communication will abound giving new hope to strugling democracies. New medical techniques will be shared globally increasing the lifespan of men and women in third world countries. Dogs will live happily with cats! Men will finally learn about emotions! We will all live happily ever after.

Prediction: Somewhere in the middle. And you can quote me on that!

Other predictions:

 

  • Internet “Box” is actually a crappy 486/33 PC with a modem. Sales will be pitiful.
  • PC “to die for” will be a Pentium Pro 200 valued at $2,700 bundled with NT coming in July.
  • Internet Explorer 3.0 will be a hit on America Online.
  • Cable Modems in NYC will be impossible to get a hold of until 1997. (ETA – Summer, 1996)
  • Usage charge on ISDN will disappear in NYC 3 months after cable modems appear.
  • ISDN will NEVER be popular and is doomed to fail a miserable pathetic death. 🙂
  • Network games will be used over the internet in record numbers in 1997.

 

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