The Great Telecoms Swindle: How the collapse of WorldCom finally exposed the technology myth

With the demise of WorldCom amidst a flurry of accounting scandals dominating the front pages, and following hotly in the footsteps of the equally spectacular downfall of other telecoms giants including Global Crossing and Lucent Technologies in recent months, The Great Telecoms Swindle investigates the reasons behind a roller coaster ride that is set to continue for some time yet. Vivendi, France Telecom, Vodaphone and numerous other corporate behemoths all face testing and possibly life-threatening times that will demand radical solutions in the coming months.

The telecoms story is set to run and run and investors are set to continue to feel the heat. For a market that, as little as eighteen months ago amounted to a license to print money, the question 'what went wrong?' must urgently be asked. How could companies like Cisco Systems go from being paragons of virtue in the new corporate age to near pariahs embroiled in a welter of financial difficulties in such a short space of time? Is 'next generation telecoms' nothing more than a myth, a triumph of hype over reality? Tracking the rise and fall of the telecoms market from deregulation in the eighties through the advent of the mobile world, and on to broadband, 3G, and the mobile Internet the authors uncover what fuelled the boom, where the mistakes were made (by industry players and investors alike), and what if anything the future holds.

Taking the lid off the headlines, The Great Telecoms Swindle reveals and examines the real problems in the telecoms market today, and exposes an industry that is entirely unsure of its own future value proposition.

Keith Brody is a director of Dunstan Brody. Formerly managing editor of FT Telecoms and editor of Telecoms World and Billing International magazines, he has also worked as a senior consultant for Ovum, where he authored the report Billing for Next Generation Networks. Keith has written for a variety of leading telecoms publications, and is a regular speaker at industry conferences.

Sancha Dunstan is also a director of Dunstan Brody Ltd. She has edited Customer Care and Billing, Broadband Network News, and has written a number of reports and worked in consultancy for Broadband Network Information Services.