Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the nation’s wireless industry, where on the whole subscriber growth is slowing down.

According to financial analysts, the two big dogs – AT&T and Verizon Wireless – continue to dominate while others are battling against increasing competition and low margins. Eric Chu and Greg Miller, Canaccord Genuity analysts, say what will determine which carriers hold the greatest earnings growth potential is “being able to best manage one’s underlying cost structure at a time when data services have become much more important than traditional voice.”

The analysts went on to say that, although the two big dogs are marketing a number of devices, Verizon Wireless is in a position to conceivably expand its margins in the approaching quarters because it is less dependent than AT&T on Apple’s iPhone.

In the meantime, Chu and Miller state that the return of T-Mobile USA after its failed attempt to merge with AT&T is putting increased pressure on carriers at the lower end of the market, including Sprint, Leap Wireless, and Metro PCS. Both Leap Wireless and Metro PCS are also feeling the pressure from the big dogs as they continue to revise their value-based offerings. Chu and Miller reported that the two carriers will probably need to alter its operating strategy to focus more on preserving the current subscriber base than adding new subscribers in order to maintain margins and shareholder returns.

About AT&T

AT&T is the largest communications holding company in the world by revenue. Operating the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network and the largest international coverage of any U.S. wireless carrier, Dallas, Texas-based AT&T has the biggest Wi-Fi network in the U.S.

About Verizon Wireless

Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network.

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In September of 2011, federal regulators approved Level 3’s $3 billion agreement to purchase Global Crossing. The merger united what were once two of the world’s largest fiber-based providers of telecom solutions, creating a single enterprise with network ownership in more than 50 countries and connections to over 70 countries.

At the time of the approval, Level 3’s president and COO, Jeff Storey, stated that the merger will create “a new kind of competitor that will offer customers the network reach, scale and reliability they are looking for, all from a team steeped in an entrepreneurial culture and singularly focused on the customer experience.”

Now, nearly 8 months later, the carrier is still holding true to its word. Subsequent to Level 3’s first-quarter results, Nick Yu and Donna Jaegers – D.A. Davidson & Co. analysts – reported that the provider is making a coordinated effort to thwart previous mistakes while integrating Global Crossing. According to Yu and Jaegers, Level 3 is greatly concerned with customer satisfaction throughout the integration process, and has put a number of “’early warning’ systems in place” that will track provisioning issues and trouble ticket resolutions.

The analysts explained that in prior acquisitions, the communications carrier was more concerned about attaining synergies than it was focused on the customer experience. As a result, customers became frustrated with extended install times, provisioning issues, and when all was said and done Level 3 ended up losing revenue. This time around, however, Level 3 has learned its lesson and will be “laser focused on the customer experience,” said Yu.

But not all analysts are painting such a rosy picture; in a May 4th letter to investors, Canaccord Genuity analysts Eric Chu and Greg Miller wrote that they, “have no reason to expect the Global Crossing acquisition will be different,” and recommended a hold on the carrier’s stock after it underperformed in the wake of numerous acquisitions.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 delivers what business demands. Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Level 3 Communications is one of only six Tier 1 Internet providers in the world. As one of the largest IP transit networks in North America and Europe, Level 3 delivers premier data, voice and video services, and is currently ranked as one of the most connected Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Image Source: nokhoog_buchachon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This week, it was announced that Level 3 Communications and Aastra struck a deal with networking association Internet2 to offer managed voice services to college campuses throughout the nation. Level 3 will provide SIP-based services, including conference bridges, local and long distance trunks, etc. Aastra will offer Clearspan, a VoIP network platform that offers a robust set of superior services, such as interactive voice response, fixed-mobile convergence, unified messaging, contact center applications and business conferencing.

The first two schools that will take advantage of the new services are Tulane University and Texas A&M University.

According to Internet2, its Voice in the Cloud hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) PBX and SIP Trunking shared service creates a private communications network on campus, and provides carrier-grade service at a cost-efficient price per line. This eliminates the call for millions of dollars in costly capital expenses.

Senior VP of government markets for Level 3, Edward Morche, noted that the new agreement builds on a flourishing and venerable relationship between Internet2 and Level 3. Morche went on to say that, thanks to Level 3’s end-to-end IP network and leadership in delivering VoIP, Internet2 can converge both data and voice on one network, generating substantial “network and operational expense savings while laying a foundation for next generation communication and collaboration tools.”

About Internet2

Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and education community. In addition to providing network capacity, Internet2 actively engages our community in the development of crucial new technologies, such as security, middleware, network research and performance measurement capabilities that are essential to the forward progress Internet applications.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications is an international communications company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. As one of only six Tier 1 Internet providers, Level 3 operates one of the world’s largest communications and Internet backbones, and is ranked as one of the most connected Internet Service Providers.

For more information on products and services provided by Level 3 Communications, give one of our professional account managers a call today! We service all facets of the industry, from small businesses to Global 500 companies, and have a proven track record of negotiating the best solutions and pricing for our customers.

Our Ethernet over Copper provides us with a scalable solution that can meet needs from 2-45Mbps and is available in 235 different markets. This creates a perfect play for MPLS/ VPN, and other cloud solutions. With Ethernet over Copper we can have our clients up and running in 2-3 weeks. This means we will have our clients connected to the cloud quicker, and in turn billing quicker.

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Earlier this week, however, it seems that the tension among the provider and union members has grown a bit thicker.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, hundreds of AT&T network techs were sent home on Monday for sporting pro-union stickers and buttons that read “WTF.” While the expression is most commonly used to represent a more provocative phrase (no, we are not referring to the World Taekwondo Federation), union workers assert that it stands for something much less offensive: “Where’s the fairness?” The three letters likely refer to employees’ displeasure with the provider in negotiations over benefits, wages, pensions, work rules that involve employees with network and call center positions, and other contractual issues.

A CWA spokesperson reported that not every technician wearing a sticker or badge was sent away. While there were a number of techs that were sent home and threatened with discipline, others were still allowed to go on service calls. AT&T has also said that while it respects the right for employees to wear stickers that express their opinions, in this case they were considered to be inappropriate attire when interacting with customers.

We’d like to know what you think. Are the CWA’s ‘WTF’ stickers and buttons too provocative for the workplace? Should the AT&T technicians have been sent away for wearing them?

About AT&T

AT&T is recognized as one of the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to businesses, and is proud to offer one of the world’s most advanced and powerful global backbone networks with up to 99.999% reliability.

Additional Information

If the approximately 40,000 AT&T workers do decide to strike, it would be the second largest strike of a US telecommunications company since 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike last year. And although the employees have since returned to their positions under the terms of their previous contract, they still have yet to reach a new agreement. For more information on AT&T products and services, including Internet T1, Internet T3, MPLS, and VoIP, give one of our professional account managers a call today!

In August of 2011, 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike to protect the pensions and health care benefits Verizon wanted to cut. In the nation’s largest strike since 2007, members of the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) spent two weeks on the picket lines before union leaders ended the walkout, announcing that Verizon management had finally agreed to engage in serious bargaining on the litigious issues after the company had originally insisted on negotiating more than 100 proposals for concessions.

Fast forward to midnight on April 7th of this year, and roughly 40,000 members of the CWA were bracing for a possible strike as their current contract with AT&T expired. Thankfully, however, despite being unable to reach a new agreement, the wireline workers have yet to hit the picket lines. According to AT&T, the on-going negotiations demonstrate the “spirit of the longstanding relationship between the company and the union,” although the union is quick to point out that workers not going on strike does not equate to business as usual.

This week, the CWA launched a nationwide campaign to protect 3,300 T-Mobile USA call center jobs, opening with a rally outside the provider’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. T-Mobile USA is planning to close seven call centers this summer in Thornton, Colorado, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lenexa, Kansas, Redmond, Oregon, Brownsville and Frisco, Texas, and Allentown Pennsylvania.

Blake Poindexter, a worker currently employed at the Frisco, Texas call center declared that T-Mobile USA is more concerned with making a profit than protecting its own workers and their jobs. Poindexter asserted that the provider was awarded millions of dollars from the state in order to create jobs, only to take the money and run. “They took the money and now they’re turning their backs on me, my co-workers and our whole community,” he said.

Employees sent a petition with over 100,000 signatures to Philipp Humm, T-Mobile USA’s CEO, asking him to bring back the 6,000 jobs the provider has already sent overseas and to keep the remaining call center jobs in the country.

In a prepared statement, T-Mobile USA stated that the choice to merge its national call center operations “does not reflect a change in our approach to serving customers,” but instead is a result of low call volumes, a smaller customer base, and “a difficult, but necessary measure to optimize our operations so that we can focus on growing our business.”

This is great news for the telecom giant, who is continuing to negotiate with the CWA on topics including wages, pensions, benefits, and work rules that involve employees with network and call center positions. According to the CWA’s Legacy T unit, since the contract expired, its bargaining team has negotiated with the provider – even into the week hours of the morning on Easter Sunday, and then again later in the day. Both sides consider this to be a positive step in the right direction, with AT&T reporting that the on-going negotiations demonstrate the “spirit of the longstanding relationship between the company and the union.”

Just prior to the current contract expiring, CWA’s VP Ralph Maly explained that – aside from arbitration of grievances – employee benefits, working conditions and wages will remain unchanged.

However while employees continue to report to work, the union makes it very clear that, workers not going on strike does not mean “there can be NO BUSINESS AS USUAL.” In a recent update the union added that they are not planning on limiting this “fight” to the work place; they will make it public to make it known that “AT&T, one of the most profitable companies in America, is taking the LOW road and trying to destroy middle class jobs.”

All the while AT&T has maintained that it is committed to defending well-paying middle-class jobs, and even with the cutbacks they continue to be ranked “among the most generous and highly subsidized” businesses in the nation. Moreover, the Dallas-based provider points out that its “Core wireline CWA employees currently pay about 60% less for health care than union employees in other areas of our business, AT&T managers, and the national average.”

Last week, AT&T spokesmen Marty Richter stated that under the now-expired contract, the standard network tech earns $133,000 in wages and benefits while the standard call center rep earns $107,000.

If carried out, the walkout would be the second strike of a United States telecommunications company in recent months, following the 45,000 Verizon employees that went on strike last year.

AT&T Wireline Workers

Image Source: Keerati / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If the CWA cannot reach an agreement with AT&T, the provider might be faced with a massive strike by tens of thousands of its wireline employees that are still flustered by the previous round of negotiations that took place approximately 18 months ago.

In a recent news report, AT&T employee Maryann Flood said she is still upset from the results of the previous negotiations which, among other things, increased workers’ health care costs. Flood explained that she has “never been hit so hard financially… since the last contract when the company making billions of dollars is saying they can’t afford to pay for our medical.”

Nevertheless, AT&T maintains that even with the cuts they are still ranked among the most openhanded in the U.S. In a recent report, company spokesmen Marty Richter asserted that AT&T’s wireline union employee health care plans continue to be “among the most generous and highly subsidized in the U.S.” Moreover, AT&T stresses that its “Core wireline CWA employees currently pay about 60 percent less for health care than union employees in other areas of our business, AT&T managers, and the national average.”

Late last month, one website that is dedicated to the ongoing negotiations noted that both the CWA and AT&T have exchanged many proposals. According to Richter, the provider is not proposing to rescind workers’ healthcare benefits or reduce their wages. Under the current contract, the average call center representative earns $107,000 in wages and benefits, while the average network technician earns $133,000.

Additional Information

AT&T’s pending strike – if it is carried out – would not be the first major strike of a U.S. telecom company in the past few months. Last year, union reps for Verizon employees were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract, which resulted in one of the largest walkouts in recent times with 45,000 workers going on strike. While the workers are now back at work, they have yet to reach a new agreement and are continuing to work under an expired contract.

Image Source: twobee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

That was the case for FastBlue Communications, a premier master agency for business telecommunications services and direct provider of enhanced conferencing services and IP Transit. Recently, FastBlue moved the majority of its employees to Apple’s iPad in order to help streamline its daily operations.

As a result, the premier master agency has created considerable operational efficiencies, saved money, and became more “green friendly” in the process. In addition, FastBlue’s focus on technology has helped the modest-sized company better compete on a large-scale international level.

FastBlue’s findings speak to something widespread among many small and medium-sized businesses – that even when resources are stretched thin, calculating a return on technology investments is rarely a strict matter of dollars and cents. As a modest-sized company, the premier master agency does not have the ability to devote large teams of people to study the return on investment of their initiatives; however you can see the return in the work being done by each employee. FastBlue’s Kevin O’Brien explained, “The full ROI is difficult to calculate when you are utilizing modern technology to unshackle our employees’ ability to affect positive changes within our company.”

Moreover, one of FastBlue’s top sales agents, Eric Swanstrom, is thrilled to be working on the new iPad because “it provides you with the ability to have all the necessary information you need right at your fingertips, which is not only effective, but crucial when I am out of the office meeting with new or existing customers.”

Additional Information

With its strong industry relationships and years of expertise, FastBlue is able to provide businesses with unbiased, carrier neutral advice on services from today’s leading providers of local, long distance, toll free, international, high-speed Internet and data services.

FastBlue’s skilled, knowledgeable sales partners and staff follow a process of assessment, analysis and recommendations in order to provide clients with the highest possible ROI and savings from their voice and data communications infrastructure across multiple vendors’ product lines, giving your company the best solution available in the industry. FastBlue services all facets of the industry, from small businesses to Global 500 companies.