Why U.S. Telecom Is Losing Juice

WHY US TELECOM IS LOSING JUICE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Spencer E. Ante]
US telecom industry stocks are down in 2008. Why? The industry's two growth engines for the last decade -- wireless and broadband -- are sputtering. Fact is, more than 80% of Americans now have a cell phone, and 79% of homes with a PC have broadband service. Wireless subscribership growth is expected to drop to 7%; broadband subscriber growth is expected to hit 12%, down from 18% in 2007. With fewer new customers signing up for those services, companies must figure out how to get existing users to write bigger checks. Innovation and investment in new technologies will be more important than ever. For the wireline players, that means upgrading networks to offer faster Internet connections and new services, such as TV over fiber-optic lines. For the wireless sector, it means persuading customers to use their phones for more than just voice conversations and also to tap into the Net for maps, games, and other information.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_06/b4070029759794.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech