218157 Carly Fiorina Hewlett-Packard Capellas, who may be named the new chief of bankrupt telecom WorldCom as early as this week, was largely responsible for day-to-day operations.
In January, it squeezed out the chief of the telecoms regulator, casting doubt on the independence of all regulatory bodies.
Claire Enders, chief executive of telecoms and media research firm Enders Analysis, said that it was a "calm and steady" set of results.
Mr. Verwaayen, the former chief of the British telecom operator BT, integrated the Alcatel and Lucent product lines and organizations under a unified brand.
Ben Wood, chief of research at telecoms analyst CCS Insight said: "With mobile now firmly positioned as the world's fastest growing and largest computing platform we see this move as a bold, but entirely necessary gamble by Microsoft.
And AT&T even has the ear of the president -- in the person of telecom-lobbyist-cum-White-House-Chief-of-Staff William Daley.
"There's no doubt in my mind that, from the very beginning, Ed wanted to create the strongest, deepest entity in all of telecom," says his chief dealmaker, James S. Kahan, 59, who was at the Ojai meeting that day and has worked closely with Whitacre for 16 years.
"JUST about every phone company in the world has come through here," says Alexander Arena, the finance chief of PCCW, Hong Kong's incumbent telecoms company.
"We're up to $240 billion," the chief of the come-from-behind Canadian telecom firm says with a grin.
Telezoo.com (Private) www.telezoo.com CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Elias Shams DESCRIPTION: At first glance Telezoo.com looks like a regular online catalog of telecom gear, but there are a couple of twists.
