Want the real reason Sprint is spinning off its local exchange carrier business? It's not because so few people knew Sprint was a major local voice carrier in parts of the United States, but keeping the LEC on the same books as its wireless and next-gen ambitions makes it too much of an acquisition target, a Sprint know-it-all confessed at the CTIA Wireless 2005 show in New Orleans last week. Sprint's LEC leaks money, and if a merger happens, Sprint wants to be the buyer, not the meal, the know-it-all said.

Who ya gonna blame? Speaking of major carriers, Verizon's greedy ambitions to kick out the middleman and deploy its own backup power generators at its microwave towers hit a wall when Verizon realized it would lose an alibi in the process, said an exec from a backup-generator company that supplies Verizon and other carriers. Verizon could save as much as $40,000 per tower going it alone, but "the only thing that's slowing them is the fact that if they bring backup power assurance in-house, they lose a butt to kick if things go wrong," the exec said.

Interesting. That reminds us we are getting a little tired of the "one throat to choke" clich. How about the entire industry switching to "one butt to kick"?

And speaking of kicked behinds, Bernie Ebbers' rear must feel awfully sore after being convicted on all charges stemming from the WorldCom bankruptcy. The small shareholders must feel a small victory, but the little guy is still outraged over executive compensation in general.

Take the shareholder who stood up at Hewlett-Packard's annual shareholders meeting in Chicago last week and asked interim Chair Patricia Dunn about the "ton of money" Carly Fiorina walked away with after being fired from HP. "It seems like the worse you do, the more money you make," the shareholder said. "Why do CEOs need this kind of money?"

Dunn replied that Fiorina did not have a contract but was under "the same plan for severance as all HP executives. The board has taken the view that it is in the best interest of the company to not have protracted and potentially disruptive negotiations with people as they leave the company."

So you pay them $21.4 million to leave quietly?

Meanwhile, Bob Wayman, HP's acting CEO, told shareholders that the company is "making good progress" toward selecting the next CEO.

Speaking of finding sudden sources of revenue, have you noticed how many solution providers in larger cities are starting to open branch offices in smaller towns? Seems like the folks in white spaces are more willing to pay for solutionsand on timethan their big-city counterparts.