Dismal economic events have culminated in drastic declines of market valuation among companies in nearly every industry/sector, including impacts to telecom industry performance. Capital spending constraints among carriers, and limited funds available to sustain (grow) telecom services over the next six- to twelve-months, may be outcomes of credit markets remaining restricted and overall GDP growth remaining tepid or even retracting. Telecom carriers often resort to credit markets for funding capital projects, while telecom equipment companies conventionally use equity share offerings in lieu of debt instruments. The outcome has been a disappointment, regardless of the selected financing mechanism.

As a result of weakening macroeconomic indicators, telecom carriers' capital expenditures remain limited in 2008 and early 2009. There has been more selectivity on technology choices and leveraging cost-savings synergies, such as streamlining purchasing arrangements and reducing the number of preferred vendors. Shareholders continue to foster an environment where executives are

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In a previous post I commented that “when you think “cheap”, you think Walmart (WMT), when you think “value”, you think Target (TGT)” Walmart seems to be taking an interesting and to date, very effective path to altering that image, electronics.