Now fears are rising that telecommunications has too much in common with industries like steel and airlines, in which profitability has been undermined repeatedly by overcapacity and competitive pressure.
Consumer discretionary and health care stocks rose, while telecommunications and utilities sectors slipped slightly.
Federal prosecutors accused Mr. Nacchio once a rising star in the telecommunications world, of knowingly concealing Qwest's mounting financial troubles from investors, despite warnings from other executives, while simultaneously selling millions in personal shares.
Last quarter, he said, orders for semiconductor equipment rose 44percentt and telecommunications orders were up 11percentt.
All 10 industry groups in the S.& P. 500 rose, led by telecommunications with an increase of 1 percent.
In India the percentage of the population with access to telecommunications rose very sharply, from 1 percent in 1998 to 70 percent today, thanks largely to the expansion of the mobile phone network.
One sign, Mr. Chambers said, was that Cisco's revenue has risen during the telecommunications industry's slump while that of the combined total of its top 10 North American rivals had fallen 48percentt.
Global Crossing rose after the telecommunications company announced that its revenues for the quarter will exceed analysts' expectations.
Lucent Technology's lu share rose after the telecommunications equipment maker said it expects to report earnings per share that are in line with or that exceed expectations of 15 cents per share for the first quarter.
Not only do China's smaller and mid-cap tech hardware shares have room to rise, bigger ones like telecommunications giant ZTE, listed in Hong Kong–have a "buy" on them at CITIC Securities because of a full order book.
