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As an industry, telecommunications is vastly different today than it was just a few short years ago, let alone when compared to before the ’96 Telecom Act. New providers have come and gone, old carriers have gone and (sort of) resurrected themselves, and new technologies—notably of the wireless and high-speed varieties—have changed how most of us get our information and communicate with each other. And the industry continues to evolve, creating a shifting landscape for customers and providers alike.

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This past month, I was able to attend the IQPC Next Gen OSS/BSS integration summit. It was a small event, and the attendance, while qualified and capable, was very small, indeed. However, over the course of the two and a half days in Tucson, there was some interesting discussion on next-gen telecom, standards, and the state of the industry.

The lovely part of having a relatively small group of qualified professionals all in one place for a few days is that conversation, both on-topic and off, is in ready supply...

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The number of lawsuits is weaving a very tangled web in the telecom industry this month. From troubles with iPhones to plenty of patent infringement cases, this month’s column has payouts, drama, and plenty of news. Here’s your NewsWatch for November.

Legacy phones are on the way out even faster as carriers push to make cell phones work more like landlines. Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile are both releasing technologies that will reduce dropped calls inside homes, allowing cell users to have a more reliable experience...

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The COMPTEL team put together an excellent conference. The Gaylord Texan hotel and conference center was a great choice: minutes away from the DFW airport and a world away from ordinary sterile concrete boxy conference centers. From the very well attended 007-themed opening night cocktail reception through to the wrap up, the show was well organized, sessions started and ended on time, and with very few exceptions, all of the speakers turned up as promised. The presentations were well thought through, on the topic described in the show brochure, and the panels were lively and informative.

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To many telecommunications professionals, the challenges presented by the market are limited to brand awareness or government regulation. It's easy to forget that there are very large swaths of the country where economic, geographic, and geopolitical realities render ordinary expansion procedures moot. However, there is seemingly boundless potential for growth in the developing world for those who would be willing to exercise a little creativity and flexibility. One such venue for expansion is Afghanistan...

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In today's global economy, it's not uncommon to find organizations struggling to share enterprise applications with hundreds of branch offices and mobile workers across the world. As a result, corporate WANs are now playing an ever more important role in providing remote branches and mobile workers with fast access to critical business applications. Optimizing the performance of applications over the WAN has become a critical issue and top priority for most IT departments.

There are a few fundamental changes taking place in both network architecture and in the business landscape with which OSS deployments must keep up if telecom operators are to succeed in this extraordinarily dynamic market.

The increase in IP and next-gen networks have created conditions in which each player must deal with a greater number of partners and competitors. Traditional roles of many market players are changing as providers leverage the new technologies to offer new services and break out of their traditional "silos." ...

If you are reading this letter, you already know the information I am about to reiterate: the telecommunications space was clearly once the realm of the massive incumbents. No longer is the field so uniform. The cablecos are certainly having a bit of good luck when it comes to capturing market share, and, in addition, the RBOCs must contend with content and device providers, entertainment companies, MVNOs, VNOs, remaining CLECs, and myriad other players all competing for a piece of the pie that, while larger, is fraught with expectations and conditions. It's no gentle landscape, no easy habitat.