Analysis: Embarq CEO Has Read the Riot Act

A frequent contributor to eq65 has passed along this article about Embarq's future as a total communications company.

So far, Embarq hasn't really brought any real innovation to the market. Its combined home/wireless voicemail platform has been around since 1991. Follow-Me Forwarding has been a part of its digital offices since the days of Sprint's Advanced Business Connection (Centrex).

Other than bringing DSL to rural markets and fiber-to-the-home in certain targeted areas, there hasn't really been any innovation at Embarq. (Taking retiree benefits is not considered innovation, just unethical theft.)

The analysis also briefly mentions a couple of items that gives ulcers to investors, employees, and retirees alike. Embarq's headquarters is located far from the real meat of the company: Nevada, Florida, and the NC/TN/VA area. And Sprint basically used its local division as a cash cow for the past 10 or so years, without investing any cash to keep the division competitive.

Here's a brief excerpt...

CEO, Dan Hesse, has put Embarq’s second level management’s feet to the fire.

Hesse, who was brought in from the outside to make the company competitive, has made it clear recently that the service provider is at a crossroads – either it maintains the status quo and lives with the consequences or it truly looks to grow and move ahead. While the delivered message seems a little bit extreme, and perhaps even childish, it needed to be said in order to open the eyes of a good number of the staff.

Hesse also expects every employee to be an Embarq sales representative. The only problem is one of practicality – the corporate headquarters is not in the telco’s territory.

The data folks at Embarq who have never been exposed to a regulated telephony environment, believe they can run all over the place and make major alterations right away despite the fact that the ILEC was on hold so long as part of Sprint. The transport capacity is usually not in place to meet their expectations.

For the entire analysis, written by Sam Greenholtz of Telecom Pragmatics, click here... http://www.glgroup.com/News/Embarq-CEO-has-read-the-riot-act-17930.html