I wrote a column in yesterday's National Post in which I argued that trading in Nortel Networks should be suspended and that analysts covering the company were doing their clients a disservice because they were working with incomplete financial information.
Turns out perhaps that thesis was a bit rash, although it had the right intentions. Suspending trading, while in theory a solid idea until Nortel gets its house in order, would be unworkable given there are more than 4 billion shares out there. Forcing people to wait on the sidelines until this accounting and management debacle works itself out is probably not the best scenario.
As for analysts, they are doing a job they would refer not to do. That said, you have to believe clients, brokers and Nortel are expecting them to slog it out until the bitter end. As someone told me told, "It's not like they can stop writing simply because there isn't enough information". So, I say "my bad" to all those hard working analysts out there. It's a crappy job but someone's got to do it.

Not sure about Michael Sone's thesis but in a new report he expects the number of residential customers using Internet telephony will soar to more than 1.1 million by 2007 from 29,000 at the end of this year. At first blush, this seems like an over-the-top bullish target given there does not seem to be a huge groundswell of interest in Internet telephony currently. Perhaps Sone believes the entry of players such as Bell Canada will convince people to give up their circuit-switch phones. Another factor could be the price-cap regime, which comes up for renewal in 2006. If the CRTC lifts the price limitations on local service, it could give Internet telephony the room it needs to get a large market foothold.

To very little surprise, Bell Canada was awarded two licenses yesterday by the CRTC to offer digital television service in 11 communities in Ontario and Quebec. Bell will provide the service over its high-speed Internet network but did not tip its hand when the product will be rolled out. Bell's sister company, ExpressVu, is already offering TV-over-copper service into more than 200 apartment buildings and condominiums using VDSL technology so you would think Bell will use the same technology to go after residential customers. An issue Bell may still have to work through is not so much the delivery of TV signals but the value-added features that will convince consumers to give up their cable connections. Bell has a trial going on with Microsoft Corp., which signed a US$400-million software deal with SBC Communications Inc. earlier this week to do IP-TV next year. Differentiation - whether it's carriers getting into TV, or cable companies moving into telephony - will have to be done on something more than price. This will be a huge challenge for players trying to cross into new markets that should not be under-estimated.