There’s a now often-told anecdote about a sole employee within Comcast starting using Twitter to respond to customer complaints — setting off what company CEO Brian Roberts has called a “culture-changing” event.

Are telecom service providers ready to join the social media parade?

They are in Australia, where Telstra has made social media training mandatory for its 40,000 employees (video after the jump).

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These technologies might be as old as the name Telephony, but they just needed a new twist to make it big (Connected Planet, anyone?):

•  Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM), boosting the speed of ol’ DSL
•  SONET as timing-enabling transport for IP/Ethernet
•  The decades-old concept of AIN – Advanced Intelligent Network – actually deployed on today’s IP networks

More after the break… more…

The mobile industry can stop worrying about slipping sales and shrinking ARPUs – the economic recession will be over for them come 2010, according to custom research company TNS. In its annual Global Telecoms and Insights survey of 24,000 consumers released today, the firm found that 53% of Americans plan to buy a mobile phone in the next six months, up from just 24% this time last year. more…

Vice President Joe Biden announced the recipients of the first $182 million in broadband stimulus grants today (just 9% of the first round of funding and 2% of the overall total) in Dawsonville, Ga.

The 18 projects included in the winners being announced today will benefit 17 states and have already been matched by more than $46 million in private funding, the White House said.

UPDATE: The full list of recipients announced today is available here.

Though the administrators of the program promised to announce the first round of winners this month, the White House said today those announcements — pertaining to $2 billion in awards — will be spread out over the next 75 days. Of the $182 million in funds being announced today, $129 million will come from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and $54 million will come from the Rural Utilities Service.

The awards announced today include: more…

These companies, which burst on to the scene in 2009, could steal the scene in 2010:

•  Best Buy – The big-box retailer is making its presence in the wireless world known. It has the potential to give wireless operators a run for their money.
•  Move Networks
•  Root Wireless

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Ontela, which provides a photo-transferring service to wireless operators, announced today it is merging with online photo site Photobucket.com. The newly combined company will adopt the Photobucket name, as well as the company’s 22 million US-based users and will continue to market the Ontela software through carriers. more…

When these products came on the market, everything changed:

•  Google’s turn-by-turn navigation app for Android
•  Google’s Goggles, mobile visual search
•  Swype – It is just now being shipped on the Samsung Omnia II, but it’s definitely the most innovative text input since T9 and touchscreens.

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BendBroadband, a family-owned cable and broadband provider serving Bend, Ore., is claiming to have launched the nation’s fastest wireless data service, with speeds averaging between 6 and 8 megabits per second and reaching 15 Mb/s “under optimal conditions.”

The company is delivering those speeds with an HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Plus) wireless broadband network that is upgradable to Long Term Evolution (LTE).

The company is supplying users with WiFi-enabled modems for home networks along with a USB device to access its network “virtually anywhere in Central Oregon.” It plans to launch a “feature-rich” residential telephony service next year. more…

Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) “could become a target of rural wireline consolidation,” according to UBS analyst John Hodulik. “Despite its much larger size, we believe Qwest could become a takeover candidate” for CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) or even Windstream (NASDAQ:WIN), he said in a research note this week. Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen made a similar observation earlier this month.

A deal like that is easier to imagine after CenturyTel’s purchase of much-larger Embarq this year. And it would probably have to wait until CenturyLink or Windstream had integrated their newly acquired assets – perhaps the middle of next year, Hodulik said. Both CenturyLink and Windstream have indicated they’re not done yet with M&A.

But Hodulik’s prediction is 180 degrees from those made by other analysts this spring, when Qwest was reportedly exploring selling off its long-haul network. Funds from such a sale could have allowed the carrier to roll up other rural carriers, analysts said at the time. But a sale never took place.

In 2009, even a crystal ball would have a hard time predicting:

•  Most Internet traffic bypasses tier-one networks
•  Ciena beats Nokia Siemens in the auction for Nortel’s assets.
•  Infinera introduces new gear without its flagship chips inside.

More after the break, including the best from our readers: more…