Mr. Winnick, who made $734 million from the company's stock before the shares became worthless, also challenged other telecommunications executives to follow his example.
The Vice-President has challenged the telecommunications industry to narrow the technology gap; if the industry doesn't act he intends to call for legislation directing it to provide universal access to the information infrastructure by connecting public schools, libraries, and hospitals to the Net.
Peña Nieto has also called for the creation of a new regulatory agency with antitrust authority to bring meaningful competition to the broadcasting and telecommunications arena, challenging powerful entrenched business interests, including Carlos Slim, the world's wealthiest person and Chief Executive of Telmex (a telecommunications conglomerate that holds monopoly-like control over this market).
McLeodUSA is considered one of the healthier companies in the group of competitive local exchange carriers that have emerged in recent years to challenge the established telecommunications firms.
Mr. Powell became chairman in 2001 with a broad mandate to deregulate, bolstered by a number of court rulings that had backed industry challenges to telecommunications and media regulation.
A crucial challenge for telecommunications companies is how to forecast changes in demand for specific products over the next 6 to 18 months the length of a typical short-range capacity-planning and capital-budgeting planning horizon.
Another case challenging the program, and several dozen suits against the telecommunications companies, remain pending in federal courts in California.
Dish Network offered on Monday to buy Sprint Nextel for $25.5 billion in cash and stock, challenging the planned takeover of Sprint by the Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank.
Global Crossing Chairman Gary Winnick Gary Winnick Tuesday stole the thunder of harrumphing lawmakers by pledging $25 million to employees who lost money in the bankrupt telecommunications company's 401(k) retirement plan and by challenging others in his position to do the same.
"Every word will be challenged," said Dana Frix, a telecommunications lawyer with Chadbourne & Parke who often represents the rivals to the Baby Bells.
