Back in the blazing saddle

Back in the office today, albeit sitting at an odd angle, I have a lot of catching up to do. Firstly, thanks to all the mega-uber value readers who wrote in with kind words and wishes. You have all been automatically upgraded to Double Platinum Extreme Unlimited readership status, with all the attendant perks and privileges.

Also thanks to those who continued to send in interesting bits of information: this is a fascinating piece by Lee "if it's Tuesday, this must be Edinburgh" Dryburgh on a presentation by France Telecom's head of Research in its Home (fixed line/broadband) division at eTel. This is the sort of presentation that would really get investors going in my view, if they were ever exposed to it, and it further underlines my oft-stated sense that investors and analysts would be better served by going to industry-facing events with presenters from the coal face, rather than the more generalized and conventional fare on offer at "investor" conferences with "superstar" presenters. Another interesting piece of analysis comes from Brough Turner at NMS Communications, who has done some technical digging on xG Technologies and likes what he sees.

I think this week should be pretty ugly for the space, with three of Europe's most embattled telcos (KPN, BT, TeliaSonera) reporting, a general sense of bad karma about (I remember back during the downturn that Jim Crowe used to write to shareholders very candidly to explain his reasons for selling stock before the fact - how times have changed!), and a prominent competitor bank capitulating and cutting the sector to underweight this morning (I guess 21% underperformance last year wasn't compelling enough...).