Today's Top Stories  Who are the highest paid CEOs in the wireline segment of the telecom industry? This week, we detail the salary and compensation rates of chief executives at 15 publicly traded telcos.
While the top-paid executives likely aren't much of a surprise--Verizon's Lowell McAdam and AT&T's Randall Stephenson sit in the top chairs of America's telco duopoly--the changes in compensation rates between 2011 and 2010 are sometimes striking. McAdam, for example, saw his total compensation, including salary, bonuses, stock awards and other compensation, leap from $7.2 million in 2010 to $23.1 million in 2011, in part because of his promotion from COO of Verizon Wireless to CEO of Verizon Communications. Meanwhile, Stephenson's total compensation dropped precipitously, from $27.3 million in 2010 to $22.01 million in 2011--no thanks to the failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, for which $2 million was docked from his compensation package. Why detail 15 CEOs? The salaries of those leading smaller competitive telcos and service providers tell a story of companies struggling--or climbing--a path fraught with risk, including the need to spend and build improved networks and services as technology and consumer demand changes. Eric Yeaman of Hawaiian Telcom, for example, saw his total compensation shrink dramatically in 2011 as the carrier fought its way out of bankruptcy, receiving no bonus or stock awards this year (compensation that had totaled $4.76 million in 2010). And, as FairPoint Communications climbed out of its bankruptcy and began to meet the broadband goals laid out for it by the northern New England states it serves, CEO Paul Sunu's compensation grew from 2010's almost-flat salary of $775,901 to $4.25 million in total compensation last year. Take a look at our 15 highest-paid CEOs in 2011. Salary and compensation data comes from publicly available filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. And don't forget to check out our sister publication FierceWireless' 10 highest paid executives in wireless feature, for compensation data from the heads of Ericsson, Motorola Solutions, and more.  Click here to read our Special Report on the 15 highest-paid executives in wireline
Read more about: Verizon, AT&T, CEO, Salary
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| This week's sponsors are Digitalsmiths, QuickPlay Media, and SeaChange. |  | eBook: Future of Multiscreen Programming This eBook from FierceCable will examine multiscreen programming hardware and software solutions being deployed by major cable MSOs, and take a look at some of the advanced services distributors can offer subscribers. Download for free today. |
 For cash-strapped city officials looking to provide high-speed Internet access to residents, the solution may be right under their feet.
Service providers and local governments around the country in the 1990s and early 2000s, galvanized by the promise of fiber optic communications and bolstered by a strong economy, invested trillions of dollars in building out fiber loops. But many of those lines now sit either underused or completely unused and forgotten--even as the federal government hands out billions of dollars to install new broadband infrastructure. Now, a small group of players is working to tap into those fiber lines. And in some cases they are even stumbling across unused--but still usable--fiber lines left forgotten inside sewers or abandoned buildings. Click here to read our Special Report, Fiber hunter: How to improve Internet access by digging up forgotten fiber lines Read more about: municipal broadband, dark fiber, middle mile
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 Welcome to our third annual Women in Wireline feature, where FierceTelecom's editors celebrate the diversity of and recognize important women figures in the wireline segment of the telecom industry.
As has been the case in previous years, our selection of the industry's women executives and senior managers was based on the nominees' ability to develop innovative new wireline services, drive technology innovation, and conduct complex company integration exercises. The wireline segment of the telecom industry is constantly changing, with new competitors emerging to challenge the traditional telcos. In addition to the traditional telcos (there's four on this year's list), the 2012 installment includes representatives from a number other segments, including the cable industry, regulators, and an international service provider, including Tracy Pitcher of Comcast and Kim McMann, President of BT U.S. and Canada. Feel free to look at our past Women in wireline honorees from 2011 and 2010. Of course, if you feel there's other women in the wireline industry segment who deserve to be recognized for their talents and industry influence, please let us know. Click here to read our third annual Women in Wireline special report. Read more about: Women in wireline
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By Sean Buckley & Samantha Bookman  Which providers have taken the leap and begun upgrading their networks to 100G? Last year saw a flurry of activity in this segment of the broadband market, particularly during the second half of 2011, as providers worldwide began upgrading parts of their network routes to be capable of 100G speeds.
Infonetics noted in a recent research report that providers are showing interest in using 40G and 100G in brownfield environments, but are leaning toward using 100G for greenfield builds. The big winners, short-term, will likely be network vendors, particularly Alcatel-Lucent and Ciena. Alcatel-Lucent deployed its 100G systems with 23 carriers, while Ciena has 21 of the providers listed here. Other vendors rising up to the 100G challenge include ADVA, Cisco, Fujitsu and Infinera. But the move to 100G is one whose time has come: Providers held off making such a large capital expenditure for the last couple of years due to a shaky global economy, but technology and demand have both grown to a point that they couldn't avoid an upgrade much longer. And rather than taking a perhaps less costly upgrade to 40G, many are bypassing that step and going straight to 100G. The reemergence of coherent optics is another big factor in the move to 100G. Once pushed aside in favor of optical amplifiers, the ability of coherent optics to increase signal distance while reducing the need for amplification has helped give 100G a boost in the eyes of providers. You may also be interested in our eBook, 100 Gbps Networks See the Light, which discusses technologies and strategies for migration to what's rapidly becoming the must-have network for providers. Click here to view our chart of providers upgrading to 100G in 2012. Read more about: 100G
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 | | (Source: iStock) | Fiber is the darling of the last mile access game, but the near-term reality for most incumbent telcos is that a hybrid copper/fiber implementation is the best method to deliver higher bandwidth and compete with cable MSOs, which are offering 50 and even 100 Mbps service over their existing Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks. Fortunately, there's still plenty of life left in existing copper lines. Service providers are essentially leveraging three approaches to the hybrid copper/fiber architecture: Fiber to the Building (FTTB), Fiber to the Node (FTTN), and Fiber to the Curb/Cabinet (FTTC). Over these architectures, service providers are using a mix of ADSL2+ and increasingly VDSL2--the latest generation of the DSL technology family--which enables service providers to leverage their existing copper to deliver theoretical speeds between 20-100 Mbps. However, the reality with VDSL2 is that, like ADSL2+, actual speed and performance depends on the quality of the copper plant and how far away each home is from the RT cabinet. Serving as a complement to VDSL2 to enhance rate and reach of VDSL2 are three emerging techniques that can also enhance rate and reach by mitigating crosstalk and interference that exists on twisted-pair copper: Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM), Vectoring, and Phantom Mode DSL. Momentum around VDSL2 continues to grow. At the end Q2 2012, Dell'Oro Group reported that VDSL equipment revenue overall jumped 15 percent year-over-year, a factor attributed to strong VDSL infrastructure (i.e., DSLAMs and BLCs) and CPE shipments.
Leading the VDSL network infrastructure race are ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei. VDSL2 may be still be the new kid on the DSL service block, but at a time when telcos are looking for more economical ways to deliver higher speed residential broadband data and video, it is an attractive option. What all of this points to is that VDSL2 is enhancing the telco's 100-plus year love affair with their copper lines. Check out our list of VDSL2 vendors delivering their products to a host of customers worldwide. Read more about: Huawei
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Welcome to the Best of FierceTelecom 2012
10 innovators who changed the face of telecom
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