Special Report: Telephony's Best and Worst of 2007

Six Things We Thought Would Happen But Didn't

1. Qwest is acquired: The “cheese stands alone” of the original Bells, it has somehow avoided the consolidation craze sweeping every other segment of the industry.
2. Google stock returns to Earth: Remember the Web 1.0 prediction that Amazon stock would reach $400? Never happened. As we write this, Google sits just shy of $700 and threatens to gobble the computer, media and telecom industries whole — all on the back of four-line text ads.
3. T-Mobile launches 3G services: Where are those networks exactly?
4. Tellabs is acquired: Despite speculation that Nokia Siemens or Nortel Networks might nab the vendor, it remains a bachelor for now, with no big acquisition plans of its own.
5. AT&T buys Echostar: The story that had more people asking “Will they?” or “Won't they?” than that pale couple on NBC's The Office.
6. Cisco Systems buys Calix: Passive optical networks and DSL are two of the only pieces missing from Cisco's portfolio, but the router giant has long been wary of the access business.