I was struck by the apparent drop-off in RLEC M&A activity this year as described in Frontier Communications’ (NYSE: FTR) recent regulatory filings. Leading up to the mid-tier telco’s deal to acquire nearly 5 million access lines from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Frontier was only considering one other major deal, and even that didn’t get very far.

It’s a stark contrast with last year, when offers were flying in every direction across the RLEC sector, including proposals for three-way mergers. Embarq and CenturyTel talked with at least five other companies about serious M&A offers before the two merged last fall.

And it wasn’t just the RLECs. M&A offers were flying in the CLEC sector, too, last year. The Wall Street Journal reported for the first time only last week that more

In yesterday’s online commentary, I talked about why I think open access is the right approach for the broadband networks being built with $7.2 billion in federal funds. I received a number of very articulate comments from people who strongly disagreed with me, and I think they are worth sharing. more