They coulda been--and are going to be--contenders

No doubt thanks to some good marketing and nifty devices, wireless seems to dominate telecommunications as sports dominates talk radio. The thing is, wireline is hardly a relic of the past, a dinosaur destroyed by the incoming blast of new wireless technologies. Wireline, as FierceTelecom's Samantha Bookman puts it in her special report, "The Contenders," is full of companies who are "challenging the status quo" and driving the wireline industry. Who these forward-looking companies are and what they're up to is part of a fascinating series that will delve into the likes of companies ranging from Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Clearfield to set-top provider Pace (LSE: PIC.L). Read more