In the old 25-year lifecycle of telecom infrastructure, engineers used to worry about many things while deploying new technology. However, that the technology would be obsolete shortly after being installed was not one of them. It is today.

Same for journalists. For most of Telephony's more-than-100-year history, the people and phone companies about which its writers wrote changed gradually. Editors weren't concerned that the company they chose for an issue's cover would no longer exist by the time that issue hit the street. We are today.

All we hope for is a little shelf-life, that an issue will be interesting enough, controversial enough or informative enough to stay out of the drawer or the circular file for a while, that it gets passed around the office or that a few people pick it up off the floor of the bathroom stall — and not just for emergencies.

What we hope against is that this period of accelerated consolidation within the industry does not make an issue — a cover story in particular — obsolete before the shrink-wrap is removed. We came close when we launched a magazine called Upstart in the telecom heyday at the turn of the millennium. Hot new companies were popping up and dying off like Wisconsin mayflies in June. Upstart tried to capture them at the height of their brief lifespans, hoping one might be the next Google. It was a nail-biter every month for the editors until mayfly season was over, and the magazine sadly fell into the lake with the rest of the bugs.

The Independent picks its cover subjects because they are interesting or doing interesting things. Maggie Wilderotter and Citizens Communications fit the bill. Wilderotter has taken a business that three years ago was looking for a way out and turned it into one that is looking up.

We were not overly concerned when putting this story together in June that the company would get acquired by the time this issue hit. After all, it was busy digesting its own $1.6 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Telephone. However, it is becoming increasingly clear, especially in light of the story on page 10 from NXTcomm, that consolidation in the rural telco market is not over. And several experts say that the big four independents you see today — CenturyTel, Citizens, Embarq and Windstream — will be down to two by 2009. So we must continue to choose our covers wisely.

Besides, there's a new M&A player in town that could accelerate change even further, as Kevin Fitchard shows in his Alltel story on page 6. Another accelerant for change lies in Washington where the FCC and Congress contemplate regulatory reform. Joan Engebretson tells us what's at stake and what to expect at OPASTCO's annual summer conference in Anchorage next week on pages 8 and 28. And there, in late July, one thing hasn't changed in a long, long time. The mayflies come to Alaska. And it's trout season. Rainbow trout.