Billions were wasted in frenzy to build networks, 90% of which lie dormant

More than 18 months into the telecom downturn, experts are still divided over the depth of the bandwidth glut. But there's little disagreement about the money wasted ...

About $70 billion was squandered over the past five years ... Much of the fiber may never be used.

Can looting, drive-by-shootings, random beatings, prostitution and drug dealing compensate for accounting irregularities? Maybe -- if the mayhem has really great graphics.

The success of Grand Theft Auto 3 (the top-selling game in February for the fourth month in a row) has buoyed the fortunes of a company with its own real-world troubles. Other hits: Max Payne and State of Emergency.

The company is under SEC investigation; unclear whether the hits can continue ... irregularities in reporting results.

Since the third version [of GTA] was released in in October, however, industry analysts estimate that 5 million to 6 million copies have been sold, with the worldwide total growing an additional 50,000 to 60,000 each week. "The company could barely keep its lights on, and then — boom — they release this game."

Its fans say that the attraction is not the violence, but the many different role-playing situations the game offers, and the fact that players have great amounts of freedom.

For instance, players are free to steal cars at will, and beat up passers-by with bats or shoot them. Players also can pick up prostitutes and have sex with them in a car; the players can then kill the prostitute and steal any money from her bleeding corpse.

Telecoms companies are having a hellish time. Not only is overcapacity and debt weighing on profits, but competition regulations are preventing a natural consolidation of the industry. Unfortunately, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Another week, another crop of bad news from the telecoms industry: WorldCom, Qwest, Siemens, Marconi, JDS, Telewest, NTL ... Analyst: "No bottom in sight." There is evidence of bigger structural problems in the industry that will not be solved by an economic recovery. That suggests the industry must undergo painful rationalisation before things start to improve.

The war is over. Goliath beat David, and now the citizens are faced with continued tyranny.

How do you tell the difference between the companies that are going to survive the shakeout among telecommunications service providers and those that will go belly-up?

Every CEO running a phone company has studied the problem. When some number of customers stops buying, a company's remaining customers often come looking for discounts. It's exactly this double whammy of falling demand and falling prices that has hit telecommunications providers. ...

Bernard J. Ebbers, who built WorldCom Inc. into a global telecommunications giant but then saw its fortunes and stock price crumble amid fierce industry competition and questions about the company's finances, has resigned as chief executive and president.

There are people who believe Silicon Valley is a misnomer. ... Iron Ferrite Valley would be a more appropriate name, although the case has been harder to make since IBM decided to sell its business in magnetic disk data storage to Hitachi.

A half-century ago, IBM began research that would lead to the first disk drive.

Almaden Research Center has long been considered one of IBM's crown jewels ... Now, part of it will become a joint venture to be 70% owned by Hitachi.

So there was some quiet grumbling ... as many technologists wondered whether the computer maker was not mortgaging its future.

Does IBM actually have a grand strategy in data storage [or is it about improving the short-term bottom line]?

It may take a peculiar kind of company to stay alive in [the rapidly consolidating storage industry.]

The technology is changing even faster. Execution of each new generation of technology has to be flawless or else market share can collapse overnight.

For decades, critics have been predicting the imminent obsolescence of hard-disk drives. IBM may have finally decided that the writing is indeed on the wall.

As long-distance companies watch their calls and profits slip away to rivals such as cellular phone networks, the day may soon come when their business -- once considered a pillar of American enterprise -- ceases to exist.

WorldCom 1Q profit plunged 78%. ... call volume fell significantly, but revenue dropped even faster.