At the heart of American dominance of Internet technologies is the daring
and vision of young entrepreneurs who gambled on perfecting their technologies and
products that created market demand.
But no such vision and daring seems to be driving Qwest, the misnamed
successor corporation to US West that has all the appearances of a giant elephant
frightened by a mouse.
When asked why its dragging its feet on bringing ultra high-speed
digital subscriber service (DSL) to the Wood River Valley, Qwestwhose name implies
in pursuit of excellencehas no intention of taking risks that a market will develop:
Itll simply be a follower and wait until theres a demand.
If builders of America's dot-com companies and technologies that serve the
Internet had taken that attitude, Microsoft and Netscape might still be tinkering with
versions 1.0.
Worse, Qwest also is standing in the way of several entrepreneurs who are
willing to gamble, Rocky Mountain Communications and New Edge, on DSL. Without attempting
to explain the technologies involved, the RMCI/New Edge partnership is being blocked from
launching DSL because Qwest is delaying making necessary engineering changes.
This is wholly unsatisfactory behavior by Qwest, and utterly unbecoming of
a major telecommunications firm that boasts of its prowess.
The arrival of DSL and other high-speed communications lines are vital
components for economic development in the Wood River Valley, where use of the Internet as
well as other communications systems unquestionably is high.
Consider this added indicatorcell phones. When cell phone service
finally came to the valley several years ago, the service was swamped with demand.
Although precise numbers are closely guarded, communications specialists say the valley
has one of the highest ratios of cell phones to its population.
A reputation for having top-notch communications systemssuch as
DSLserves to lure businesses and home office entrepreneurs who require
state-of-the-art telecommunications facilities.
Qwest is a regulated communications firm. Its ability to conduct business
depends on the goodwill of communities where it hopes to thrive profitably.
The valleys political and business leadership have good and
sufficient reasons to light a fire under Qwest to either speed up the opening of DSL here,
or pave the way for others with proper engineering decisions.
The Wood River Valley cant afford to wait for Qwest to overcome its
silly apprehension and poor corporate vision about market demand. Opportunities are going
begging.
To fracture an old aphorism, Qwest should either lead or get out of the
way.