Lot’s of new readers found bearonbusiness since I began the Fiber Texas Hold’em Tournament. Monday I re-introduced the concept. Today I will review the format for my tournament. 
The goal is to get to the final table, and stay there. I am identifying those telecom companies which I believe are the 12 strongest fiber-based providers in the U.S. Criteria for final table is revenue, scope of fiber assets, financial stability, and anything else that suits my purpose. Several of the final table seats have already been revealed; the rest will be identified over the next few months. The stronger players will be identified as “chip leaders”. The weaker of those at the final table will be identified as the “short stacks”. If other entrants emerge who are not part of the final table—the short stacks could be bumped.
I am also poplulating three or four additional tables with other fiber-based telecom companies. Table two contains the 12 “second” strongest survivors. Three is the next 12 and the fourth table has the remaining providers. All of these companies are active participants in the ongoing industry consolidation. The size and scope of those sitting at tables two and especially tables three and four, are modest.
Since this is my tournament, I will define the focus to be U.S.-based carriers that have substantial fiber assets and who focus on providing bandwidth services to commercial customers. Carriers who are predominately focused on wireless, colo or residential are not included; RLECs or RLEC-owned carriers are not eligible, nor are CATV companies.
As M&A activity continues, I will collapse the tables.
Remember, this is my tournament so I will modify the format whenever I see fit.
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Dan, it might be helpful if you listed out who is sitting at which table so far. I’ve been reading along but have lost track.
Jeff,
Thanks for reading and thanks for the comment.
We are about to do what you asked. We will use the same chart format that showed how Verizon, AT&T, Qwest, and Sprint consolidated to their spots, but will add the firms (and those they gobbled up) to the charts.
Dan