BT

C-Level convergence: It’s getting lonelier at the top

We’ve talked and talked about it, and the convergence continues. High C-level positions are biting the dust or being combined with other high C-level positions. Next-gen industry change is finally moving up from the lower levels, the place where employees are used to reorg after reorg. We wonder if “rightsizing” feels any better at the top than it does at the bottom?

Verizon Communications is just one of many providers tweaking at the top. Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg this week said Verizon is eliminating its chief operating officer (COO) position as part of a broader restructuring effort (and it has had many). Recently, BT got rid of its CTO position, and Global Crossing combined its CTO/CIO position into one powerful slot.

The bigger news is that Verizon’s consumer and business landline operations will now be in one big landline pot. Why now? Verizon said it wants to speed up the process of bringing products to market. Maybe. But it takes a lot of time to move a ship that big.

The lines between consumer and business divisions used to be hard and fast. Verizon Business was a combination platter of MCI’s and Verizon’s business customers, which in the old days a couple of years ago, would never be seen in public with the thin-margin consumer business. But landline services have been hit hard by the economy and wireless migration, and now they’re just plain old “landline.”

BT wants content providers to pay to play. Well, duh!

BT wants content providers to share the cost of providing their content, which makes total sense from BT’s point of view and doesn’t much interest content providers. As my mother always said: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? (a handy metaphorical construct for so many occasions).

In the last few weeks, BT faced accusations that it was limiting download speeds for the BBC’s video content player, the iPlayer. After some stalling, a BT spokesman came clean to silicon.com: Yes, BT was limiting video-steaming content on its basic service package. In truth, the truth makes a better point on BT’s behalf than keeping it quiet.

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Will telco shareholders really revolt over executive pay?

Despite gloomy news for BT execs (BT CEO Ian Livingston was the only one to get a bonus), Fierce Telecom’s Dan O’Shea predicts telecom upper management will be safe from shareholder pay activism:

Still, as Washington Technology recently reported, “say on pay” measures and other shareholder activism moves have yet to find sustained footing at many telecom firms. For example, the publication said that proposals related to shareholder input on executive compensation failed to find enough support from Qwest Communications shareholders. A similar proposal misfired at Frontier Communications. Also, while Verizon has its “say on pay” advisory vote, a proposal that would require shareholder approval of death benefits for executives failed to garner enough support.

… It also is not clear how seriously corporate boards might take “say on pay” votes as they actually address the issue of executive compensation. To date, there doesn’t appear to be such a thing as a binding “say on pay” vote.

Are the industry’s shareholders really all bark and no bite, even as executive counterparts in finance and the auto industry bite the dust daily? Maybe, and if so, it’s probably due to the fact that with all the doom and gloom, telecom remains a relatively stable bet.

Just compare stock prices from some major service providers vs. major auto manufacturers the past few months:

While oversized executive pay is still definitely a topic worthy of conversation, it seems like telecom, at least as far as shareholders are concerned, might be treading relatively safe waters.

BT’s own employees, however, might be a more skeptical audience. As the Times Online reported:

The telecoms group, which recently announced plans to shed 15,000 jobs after huge losses in its IT unit, said that the award was based on “non-financial” elements, including improved customer service and “environmental and social measures”. … the move is bound to anger unions and workers who have been shed by the group.