Worldcom controls one third of the internet. A bankruptcy for them is not a good thing for us. No money for maintenence or upgrades.
Please explain your assertion that WorldCom controls one third of the internet.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-895682.html
Maybe my estimate was a little smal…
http://www.salon.com/21st/rose/1997/10/09straight.html
Just look into what Worldcom controls.
Which in no way means they control one third of the Internet (leaving aside the fact that the Salon article was from 1997; I mean GTE doesn’t even exist anymore). They own a large chunk of the backbone of the net. I’m not sure why Salon uses the word “own” with respect to Internet traffic.
Presumably, the infrastructure will not simply crumble into dust. For one thing, it is a major asset, and will either be used as a source of revenue for Worldcom, or be sold off to some other huge telecom behemoth.
If you control the backbone you control the internet. It’s your servers, your switches that the traffic goes through. If you don’t have the money to maintain them they will go down. I agree the will most likely be sold…eventually.
Almost correct. The fiber and switches belong to WorldCom, the servers (content) do not.
I’d imagine that the bankruptcy court and the trustees will see to it that a huge and valuable resource doesn’t sit around long. Really, the Worldcom portion of the backbone is not going to suddenly fall
I stand corrected. But without the fiber and switches the servers are just boxes.
I’d imagine that the bankruptcy court and the trustees will see to it that a huge and valuable resource doesn’t sit around long. Really, the Worldcom portion of the backbone is not going to suddenly fall offline, or gradually whither away. Perhaps they will make major upgrades less often, but if they have to do that, I would think that they’d start selling stuff off, as upgrades would seem to be necessary to keep downstream customers.
(sorry if parts of this double post. tabbed over to the submit button and hit enter by accident while typing)
Most likely what will happen is what happened with the Iridium satellite phone company. They filed for bankruptcy and the Feds found a group of backers who bought the company’s assets for a mere $25 million (the start up costs for Iridium were around $1 billion, IIRC), the Feds then purchased $72 million worth of air time from Iridium’s new owners. Not a bad deal for someone.
I’m sure the Feds will work out something similar for Worldcom and any other teleco that goes under (a distinct possiblity).
I don’t think the situation will be similar to Iridium. Iridium made a huge investment in technology that no one wanted at the price they could offer it.
Worldcom’s share of the backbone is used quite a bit, and could easily be sold off to companies like Genuity (they’ve got to have some money now that they’ve laid off everyone), AT&T, Qwest, and whoever else might be in the backbone business. If the government did get involved in the business, it would probably suck for all concerned.
Oh, great. This means the SDMB is going to get slower, doesn’t it? 
I doubt if AT&T or Qwest would be able to buy it. All the telecos in the States are on rocky financial footing, so its entirely possible that the Feds might have to get involved or that its bought by a company (or companies) that aren’t currently involved in telecom right now. Wonder if the Feds would allow Microsoft to buy it? They’ve certainly got the money, but with the anti-trust suits going on, the Feds might not let 'em.
Stories like this have been circulating around Europe ever since KPN Qwest went belly-up. As far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been any noticeable degradation in internet performance.
Current rumours of interested parties include AT&T (looking to expand into Europe, certainly, and have said that they are interested in purchasing network assets rather than going concerns), and there are other telecoms providers with money to spend.
Stories like this have been circulating around Europe ever since KPN Qwest went belly-up. As far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been any noticeable degradation in internet performance.
Current rumours of interested parties include AT&T (looking to expand into Europe, certainly, and have said that they are interested in purchasing network assets rather than going concerns), and there are other telecoms providers with money to spend.