Stimulating the Industry

The economic recovery is all the news these days. Whether it be by natural rebounding in the business cycle as companies get back to growth as they should, or by creating money out of thin air for the purposes of stimulating the dead back to life either way we all continue to look ahead to new opportunities. We are in the midst of the largest issuance of fiat currency in the history of the world — the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and a rather small by comparison component of that is the $7.2 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). There is no choice but for it to work.

Putting aside the fact that in the 1980s $7 Billion would have made people jump and shout, but today it’s a bit of a yawn, especially given the true task at hand, the fact remains that there will be a massive investment in broadband and the physical infrastructure that supports it. This investment will inevitably pave the way for more VoIP services, which is good for all of us. Broadband itself will be coupled with access to it make it possible. Once that’s available the applications will flow.

Without knowing exactly the timing of when the positive impact will actually occur, an assessment can still be made on what the $7+ billion will do for VoIP deployment as a factor of broadband investment to date and the VoIP traffic that exists. The BTOP isn’t anywhere near the total number, but there will be progress made, particularly in rural TDM America. So, even if your company cannot directly apply for Stimulus funds, as long as you are in the VoIP business at some layer you will most likely see incremental growth from those that do apply and win grants and loans. Couple that with a credit market recovery and maybe we can all get back to high-growth business.

More broadband brings more VoIP and that leads to more VoIP Peering! IT

Hunter Newby (News - Alert) is the Chief Strategy Officer and a Director of a Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation focused on the communications industry. Reach him at hunter@hunternewby.com or visit www.hunternewby.com.

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