The wireless communication world is about to receive a new entrant, as the country's third-largest cable company will start a cellular network in three areas today. The company? Cox Communications.

Before you think that this wireless network will be available across the U.S., Cox's wireless offerings will be available in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. These three locales are where Cox is the local cable company, and they hold roughly 1.5 million residents.

Verizon Communications (VZ) is down over 2% as I write this. Shares are exchanging hands for $31.79. Volume isn't that impressive, but we'll have to see where it ends up when the trading day is completed (there's still over two hours to go before the bell is rung).

According to the Associated Press, the telecom entity reported adjusted income of 56 cents per share for the third quarter. Expectations were set at 54 cents per share. So management was able to beat the analysts.

Goldman Sachs (GS) was quite the busy brokerage this morning, as it trekked through the financial sector and also issued a number of other upgrades, including one for Sprint Nextel (S).

The brokerage upped Sprint to buy from neutral, issuing a $6 price target, a nice elevation from the previous target of $3.50. Goldman noted that the reason for the upgrade is churn, and that the company is "about to move the needle." Goldman stated, "Sprint's gross add/upgrade activity slowed sharply in 2008, which ironically should benefit the company over the course of 2010 as the logical pool of churn subscribers is reduced." The upgrade comes basically from a glorified hunch.

Sprint Nextel (S) reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net loss increased due to 1.5% lower revenue. The telecom giant's loss checked in at 29 cents per share, 8 cents wider than last year's same-quarter loss. Removing charges stemming from an increased valuation allowance for deferred tax assets from the equation, Sprint lost 17 cents per share. The post-charge loss matched the consensus estimate.

Sprint's revenue totaled $8.09 billion, better than the expected revenue of $8.05 billion. Sprint added that it lost 75,000 net subscribers during the quarter. But when the company compared the results to a year ago, the telecom firm's improvement in post-paid gross subscriber additions and prepaid gross subscriber additions were the highest in five years.

Verizon Wireless (VZ) on Wednesday asked the Federal Communications Commission to not "assert its authority over Internet services." VZ believes that the FCC's power is ineffective and gave Congress some recommendations that could shift the balance of power away from the FCC. VZ's top lobbyist, Tom Tauke, asked Congress to reconsider the way the FCC oversees broadband Internet. VZ would like the FCC to become more of an enforcer, much like the Federal Trade Commission.

The FCC is trying to reclassify broadband Internet access as a "common carrier service." Such classification would allow the government agency to regulate Internet service providers the same way it regulates phone companies. According to The Washington Post, the FCC's chairman said that the agency will continue to argue its point but may consider reclassification if a federal appeals court finds that the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction over broadband.

While Ciena (CIEN) has shown strength lately, the company had a setback Thursday as it disappointed investors on its fiscal first-quarter results. The company, which is a major supplier of telecom equipment, posted a loss of $53.3 million, or $0.58 per share, which compares to a loss of $24.8 million, or $0.27 per share in the same period a year ago. Revenues were up 4.9% to $175.9 million.

Excluding certain one-time items, Ciena's loss came to $0.12 per share. However, the Street consensus was for a loss of $0.09 per share. So, in morning trading, the shares of Ciena were off 9% to $13.24.

BT Group, which virtually owns the UK telecommunications market, isn't waiting for Google (GOOG) to launch a full attack. The company probably expects to be under assault from the search engine (and advertising and e-mail) giant, so it's taking early action. Google Voice is still being tested, but words like "free" and "powerful" and "internet-based" are bound to inspire fear in even the most established of companies.

To protect itself from the eventual attack from Mountain View, BT picked up Ribbit Mobile, and testing is in progress. Ribbit's technology has some overlap with Google Voice and even beats it with a few capabilities, according to Bloomberg. Ribbit just launched its beta product this month. It allows either the user's current phone number or a new one from Ribbit -- which is no different from Google's alternative. The product suite is generally the same, with phone- and web-based voicemail retrieval and automatic transcriptions that can be sent by text message or e-mail. For an extra fee, BT's Ribbit does provide human transcription, though it is free during testing. And, calls can be taken directly from a computer, using a microphone and speakers.

Just a couple years ago, the shares of Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) were above $40. But since then, it's been brutal -- with the shares eventually falling to $5.35. After all, the company is in the competitive telecom-equipment space.

However, things have been getting better lately. In fact, the share price is now at $13.06.

And this week Ciena reported its fiscal Q3 earnings report. While revenues dropped 35% over the past year, they were actually up 14% over the prior quarter. There was a net loss of $26.5 million, or $0.29 per share.

The only DOW component reporting earnings this morning is Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). The nation's largest wireless carrier reported second quarter numbers that fell inline with analyst estimates.

Going into this morning's earnings report, analysts polled by Thompson Financial expected Verizon to earn 63 cents per share. Excluding merger and various one-time labor costs, Verizon was able to match that number.

Christine A. Varney heads up antitrust at the Department of Justice, and she's going hunting. She is the point person for a group consisting of the presidential administration and some Congressional Democrats that is looking to put the breaks on large companies in several industries.

Already, airlines have run into roadblocks when requesting relief from antitrust regulations. Varney & Co. are digging into complaints by AT&T (NYSE: ATT) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that cable competitors – e.g., Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) – have locked them out of the market for cable company-produced programming.

(Imagine that, a phone company complaining! Usually, they're the objects of derision.)

Rumor has it that Nortel Networks (OTC: NRTLQ) will sell its enterprise division in the near future.

This would be part of a broader plan to break the company apart instead of trying to restructure its way out of bankruptcy. The company is planning to sell its CDMA and LTE wireless businesses to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) for $650 million -- the first unit sale since the January bankruptcy filing.

"The Obama administration is poised to spend a lot of money on infrastructure; one important sector is the the nation's electric power grid and the communications system," notes growth stock advisor Dave Dyer.

In his Dave Dayer's Newsletter, he explains, "Some products will win big, others will get nothing, but one company will get more business regardless of which products win: Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), the leading electrical contractor in the country.

"Quanta's service business stands ready to expand with the infrastructure buildout no matter which products are selected.

"They do design, installation, maintenance, and repair on just about any type of network infrastructure (electric power, telecom, broadband cable, and gas pipelines.) Their moat against competitors is size. They are the largest in their field and that is in no danger of changing.

I have stated numerous times that in our system of capitalism, killing a company is almost impossible to do. It just doesn't happen very often, especially with older companies with deep roots.

Years of losses, shrinking markets, and a failed business strategy matter little. If there is a will, there is a way. Until the credit crisis in November, there was always a way to raise needed capital to keep the dream alive.

A great example of this is Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT). The giant telecommunication networking firm was a darling for investors during the dot-com boom. In early 2000, the stock peaked at close to $1,000 per share on a split adjusted basis.

As the crash unfolded, NT collapsed. By the end of 2002, NT was a stock on life support and trading for pennies a share (pre split). At the time, the company was bleeding cash and facing an entirely different market for its products and services.

Nortel Networks Inc. (NYSE: NT), which has been floundering for years, put itself out of its misery today by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

According to court papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the Canadian telecom equipment maker owes bondholders $3.8 billion and was facing $107 million in interest payments this week. The company already was facing de-listing from the New York Stock Exchange. It has a $2.4 billion cash position.

Amidst all of the usual hopeful spin in the company's press release was this telling sentence: "The company commenced a process to turn around and transform Nortel in late 2005, and the company made important progress on a number of fronts."

That's right folks, Nortel has been in a turnaround since 2005. Then again, Nortel is not a typical company. Former Chief Executive Michael Dunn, former Chief Financial Officer Douglas Beatty and former Controller Michael Gollolgy are facing charges in Canada for manipulating earnings in the early part of the decade. Shares of Nortel hit $900 on a split-adjusted basis in 2000.

"Investors have been focusing on the shortcomings at Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q), and to be sure, it has plenty," observes turnaround specialist George Putnam.

In his The Turnaround Letter, he adds, "But the company also has very valuable assets and strong cash flow. In addition, we believe the stock would command a good premium in a takeover." Here's his bullish review.

"Following its IPO in 1995, Qwest expanded via acquisitions and partnerships, and participated in the telecom bubble of the late 1990's.

"Unlike many of the other high-flying telecoms of that era, however, Qwest realized that in addition to a story you needed customers. In 2000, it went out and acquired US West, which gave Qwest the revenue base to survive the bursting of the telecom bubble

"Although the company survived, the shareholders have had a rocky ride during the current decade. The stock peaked around 60 in 2000, dropped to just above 1 in 2002, rebounded to 10 in 2007 and then declined to its present level.

"Management's challenge is too maximize the value of its assets. One of Qwest's greatest assets, and biggest challenges, is its huge traditional landline telephone business. The landline business is in a slow but steady decline as customers move to wireless or Internet telephony.