With so much talk about whether Vonage will do an IPO or simply raise another round of money, ZDNet's Russell Shaw throws out another scenario: Vonage being acquired by Sprint. Russell offers seven different reasons for why such a deal makes sense, ranging from Sprint's lack of a residential VOIP service to its strong consumer presence in the wireless business. I definitely agree with his thesis that Vonage will taken out - probably this year as consumers get more comfortable with VOIP. From what I can surmise, I don't think Vonage really wants to go through the hassle of going public. If it was truly interested in this route, the company would have probably done it already to capitalize on the hype surrounding VOIP. Instead, Vonage is probably playing a waiting game to see who jumps first. Will it be SBC/AT&T to beef up the struggling CallVantage business? Will Verizon step in to augment VoiceWing? Or will Comcast come to Vonage's "rescue"? In any event, Russell raises a very legitimate possibility.

While Canada's federal goverment talks the talk about extending broadband access to remote and rural communities, it is the provinces and the private sector actually implementing the plan. Telus and the British Columbia government unveiled a project yesterday where Telus Corp. will spend $110 million over the next three years to build out broadband services to 119 communities. When this project is finished, 366 communities in B.C. will have broadband access. The deal is a win-win for both sides. Telus gets more business from the B.C. government, including hospitals and schools, while B.C. is able to get broaband service across the province at no capital cost. This is deal that Telus badly wanted after it lost out to Bell Canada for the SuperNet project in Alberta in 2000. Meanwhile, the Canadian goverment continues to "study" the broadband issue - an exercise that will be probably be finished after every province has done broadband themselves.

Canada's telecom regulator will finally make up its mind about whether or not to regulate VOIP by May 12. The decision can't come too soon for ILECs such as Bell Canada and Telus, which have been watching competition surge in the local telephony market as cablecos such as Shaw and Videotron launch services. The $64K question is which way the CRTC will go. Does it stick with its preliminary opinion to regulate ILECs and allow everyone else to set their own prices? Does it go with something a little friendlier by regulating ILECs but letting them compete freely in markets with lots of competition? Or does it simply open up the market for everyone to compete on a level playing field? I have a feeling - based on gut feeling and analysts reports more than anything else - the semi-regulatory approach will be adopted.
In any event, the CRTC needs to move quickly because the VOIP market is getting away from it. The launch of Bell Digital Voice last week was a clear shot across the bow by Bell Canada, which is frustrated it is operating in regulatory limbo. This situation was exacerbated yesterday when a complaint was filed to the CRTC by several cablecos, which asked for Bell Digital Voice be shut down because Bell has broken the rules by not seeking regulatory pricing approval for a local telephony service.