Paul Covington is assistant vice president of technical business planning for GTE Corp., whose new Global Network Infrastructure (GNI) - based on ATM, frame relay and IP hardware and software - is operating today between a variety of cities from Boston to Washington, D.C. and San Francisco to Kansas.
Q. Sprint is not setting up its own [competitive local exchange carrier] division like GTE has. Instead it's setting up interconnection relationships with [regional Bell operating companies] and CLECs to lease local facilities. Will this strategy work?
A. Sprint is talking about reselling a [local exchange carrier's asymmetric digital subscriber line] service or leasing a LEC's unbundled loop element. And Sprint is wisely saying that we need to do both. That is the right answer. This is what a lot of service providers are doing already. And Sprint does have its own local franchises where it owns its own facilities and will not have to negotiate interconnection agreements.
Q. What is the biggest flaw with Sprint's strategy?
A. Flaw may be a little harsh. I would say Sprint's biggest challenge will be establishing all of these interconnection agreements. There's a lot of work to be done.
Q. What's positive about Sprint's strategy?
A. It makes good sense to evolve your network to a packet- and cell-based infrastructure that will carry multiple types of traffic. What they are doing is practical and smart. Welcome to the club.
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