BOSTON - Some DSL providers may start off small, others may be a long way from adding voice services to their features, but that doesn't mean they're in the market to be acquired by a major telecom operator, according to CLEC execs at the DSLcon fall industry conference here.

"Every week you read about a larger telco reducing its costs and bundling services," said Wendy Bluemling, vice president of regulatory affairs and external relations for DSL.net.

"We're not ready to [bundle voice services]," Bluemling added. "We're still trying to do our core business, DSL access, correctly first."

John Mitchison, industry relations manager for Manchester, N.H.-based Vitts Networks, said there's no doubt major telcos are looking at DSL-centric CLECs as acquisition targets. While Verizon [VZ] is busily preparing to absorb DSL provider NorthPoint, other ILECs should mind their own business, Mitchison said.

"ILECs are the big, dumb, fat, happy 800-pound gorilla, but they don't know what they're doing [in the DSL market]," he said. "Verizon had to buy NorthPoint to get it right."

And the panel members said they're not only uninterested in being acquired, they're also not about to save struggling Internet service providers.

Brad Connors, DSL Networks president and CEO, said some ISPs have tried to compete with ILECs that began offering Internet access. That isn't a good move, he said.

"Some of them have thrown up their hands and said, 'Come save us,'" Connors said.

"Why buy an ISP that's losing money?" Mitchison said. "It doesn't make any sense when we can keep providing our services and hope to take away their customers."

Even when acquiring an ISP appears to be a strong move for a DSL carrier, making that move isn't the best strategy, Bluemling said. "You've got to stay focused on your core business," she said. "There could be opportunities missed."

DSL providers trying to compete with ILECs aren't without their own problems. Some problems come from ILECs themselves in the form of slow responses to line-access requests. Although the FCC requires ILECs to offer shared-line access to CLECs, the incumbent operators are not consistent in their procedures to meet that requirement, CLEC execs reported.

"Bottom line, it always comes down to procedures," Mitchison said. "These providers are beginning to improve, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done."

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