You have to give Covad Communications credit. It and its CEO Charlie Hoffman won't go away. Just when the economy or the government throws another obstacle in its path, the company somehow manages to find a new path. It weathered bankruptcy and the re-regulation of the last mile (remember UNE-P?), while most CLECs crumpled. Now the company is taking a crack at wireless. It's acquiring WISP NextWeb, and you can't help but wonder if Covad's doing so just because it's fed-up with wireline.

With unlicensed spectrum and the prospect of point-to-point wireless backhaul, Covad would no longer have to pay homage to the RBOCs owning the access network or the regulators muddling their rights to it. Aside from leasing space to mount its base stations, the company is free and clear to run the networks as it pleases.

Could we be seeing the rebirth of the CLEC in the wireless world? If so, let's hope they do better than their wireline predecessors.

E-mail me at kfitchard@primediabusiness.com.