New year's resolution

As Nortel Networks CEO Bill Owens announced this week that five of the company's directors -- including its chairman of the board, Red Wilson -- would preclude their own re-election and leave the board when their terms expire this year, he said it was " time to turn a page." Perhaps with a similar feeling of catharsis, 12 senior Nortel executives "volunteered" to repay the bonuses they got when the company erroneously reported profits in 2003 (and sure, it's easy to view the word "volunteered" with a certain amount of skepticism; my wife thinks I "volunteered" to hang a light fixture this weekend, but her interpretation doesn't match mine).

As it is a new year, it's the perfect time for the telecom industry to turn a page. Just a few days ago, 10 former Worldcom board members agreed to pay $18 million out of their own pockets to settle a class-action lawsuit filed over the company's accounting fraud. Another settlement from another board member is expected soon. And later this month, Worldcom's former CEO Bernie Ebbers will be tried for fraud.

Sometimes it seems like we'll never put the bubble behind us. Even years later, we keep learning new things about what companies did to stay atop the rising crest or to claw their way out of the crater that remained after the bubble burst. But even a simple, arbitrary change like the number on a calendar year can change the way people think about the times in which they live. It's how pop culture can conclude that Americans were obsessed with materialism through the 80s and Kurt Cobain through the 90s, even though it's not really true. Maybe 2005 will be remembered as the year the telecom industry finally escaped the ugliness that took root in the turn of the century. If nothing else, the above-mentioned Nortel executives and Worldcom directors--perhaps even Ebbers himself--will remember 2005 as the number they wrote on an awfully big check.

Heard any optical gossip? E-mail me at egubbins@primediabusiness.com.