Holiday ovations

My holiday taste runs to Scrooge, not Santa. But in the spirit of the season, this space sends out year-end kudos and a single brickbat. To:

C. Michael Armstrong, kudos for taking on the titanic challenge of righting a badly listing AT&T after it had been piloted into multiple icebergs. Armstrong faces a mighty task in rough seas. But AT&T retains tremendous assets, particularly its solid-gold brand. It will take more than one year, but Armstrong will man the pumps, right the ship and chart a better course. AT&T won't go to the bottom.

PCS carriers, kudos for Herculean progress in building their powerful networks. They are far from done yet, but they go into the new year with a solid record of accomplishment.

Bernie Ebbers, kudos for the WorldCom chairman's inspired impersonation of Ted Turner in his spunkier days. The carrier industry has not had such a colorful executive since Bill McGowan died. Ebbers seems to lack McGowan's wonderful, subversive sense of humor. But he is a gifted corporate moth. He can find the camera as well as anyone.

U S West, kudos for jumping into commercial DSL service with gusto. RHCs have often been criticized for sitting on the sidelines while technological opportunity went begging. U S West is getting out in front of DSL, putting its faith in its network expertise and its customers. That is how it ought to be done.

Qwest, kudos for pioneering work in several areas. It is putting substance ahead of idle chatter about building a carriers' carrier and broadband, multimedia networks.

SBC's Edward Whitacre, kudos for both entering into and then walking away from the AT&T talks. A merger of SBC and AT&T was an intriguing but doomed idea. Whitacre had the good sense to explore the possibilities and recognize the truth early in the game.

WorldCom, kudos for buying everything that didn't run away. And you think you'll have a pile of bills on your kitchen table after the holidays?

ISPs and CLECs, kudos for pioneering new models of network service companies. ISP and CLEC visionaries have seen the future and believe they will own it. However, larger, traditional carriers have seen the ISPs and CLECs and believe they will own them.

GTE's Charles Lee, kudos for his bold play for MCI. Jumping out of the shadows, Lee nearly pulled off a great strategic coup that would have shattered the constraints on his successful company, now drawing the interest of BT, a strategic perennial. Lee is headed for a pressure-packed 1998.

Cellular network operators, kudos for stepping on the digital gas pedal. The way to compete in the emerging wireless industry is with digital technology-and larger, more powerful service sets.

The AT&T board, kudos for finally-finally-getting something done about the succession issue. Had the board dithered much longer, there may not have been much to succeed to.

Reed Hundt, brickbat for the former FCC chairman's corrosive intervention in the sterile SBC/AT&T merger talks. Whether the merger would have been a good idea or not from any particular point of view, Hundt's decision to throw the FCC's ample weight against a deal that hadn't been done yet serves as this year's example of federal officials badly overstepping their roles. The serious critic waits until the play is staged before panning the production.

FCC's William Kennard, kudos for not acting like his predecessor, Hundt. So far, anyway.

Wireless local loop pioneers, kudos for pushing a technology that promises to increase the intensity of competition in several market sectors sooner than observers thought possible at this time last year. Keep an eye on companies like AT&T Wireless, Teligent and Winstar.

Bert Roberts, kudos for executive flexibility above and beyond the call. First the MCI chairman joins the Londoners. He shortly discovers BT is not happy with MCI after all. Then Ebbers sweeps him off his feet, briefly, before Lee surprisingly seizes the initiative. Finally, Ebbers trumps both Lee and BT. So Roberts ultimately casts his lot with the Mississippi wrangler. Now for the hard part: putting the two companies together.

Sprint, kudos for sitting quietly through a wild year. Perhaps too quietly? Don't change that channel.