The wallop that the telcom sector took on
Wednesday, September 5th from Wall Street didn't end after the bell.
Deutch telecom analyst, Gary Jacobi, had more doom and gloom to report
to a crowd who came out after hours to MurphGuide's Telecom Industry
Network event at Busker Brown's. The equity analyst didn't have too much
optimism about the short-term future of the industry, but out of the
80+ attendees, I didn't see anyone crying in their beer.
Instead, Jacob Cane, a principal with BTP, was waxing nostalgic about
the past prices that telcos were able to charge for bundled services.
"Last year, customers with dedicated lines were worth about $350. Now
they are worth about $150. And DSL customers who were worth about $1,000
last year aren't worth anything today," he lamented. Jacob and I agreed
that part of the blame lies with investors whose over-exuberance drove
prices up last year.
While the attendees talked shop they kicked back with one of the many
beers on tap at the classic mid-town pub. Amongst a crowd heavy with
Lucent and Verizon representation was Margaret Walsh, a principal with
R&W Analysis, which does consulting work for telecom companies.
Patrick Wolff and Christopher Sacco from the Waltham, Mass-based company
GiantLoop were also out meeting and greeting with industry folks.
The suit and tie crowd was a departure from the usual group that Sean
Murphy woos to his MurphGuide events. Sean told me that this is the
first B2B event his company has organized. In the past, he has put
together cruises around Manhattan and has even organized a
cross-Atlantic tour to Ireland. "I was always the ring-leader in
college," he says. "I was always good at bringing people together."
Could this be New York's next schmooze-master?
A chronicle of the people and events in technology, internet and media since 1997, mixed in with snapshots of musings and observations.
