In March, Covad and Megapath announced a merger -- something that would have seen far more attention if it had occurred during the early days of DSL, when both companies still cared about residential broadband users. That was before residential CLECs began dropping like flies thanks to incumbent carriers, a regulatory system lobbied for by the nation's largest and wealthiest operators, and the occasional dash of incompetence or accounting scandal.

Another ISP from those "golden years of DSL" (assuming your ILEC and CLEC could cooperate long enough to get it installed and keep it running) was Speakeasy. Hugely popular among users initially, the company ultimately turned its back on residential customers to make its primary focus the small business market -- before being purchased by Best Buy.

Speakeasy this afternoon announced that they too were joining this retro CLEC late 90's reunion of sorts -- the three companies issuing a statement saying they are creating a new "next-generation CLEC" focused largely on managed IP broadband services for businesses. That means Best Buy's experiment didn't go so well -- though Best Buy will still own a minority stake in the venture. Says Megapath of the new, Voltron-esque super CLEC:Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close sometime during the third quarter -- contingent on the closing of the previously-announced Megapath/Covad deal. Perhaps someone can bring Northpoint and Rhythms back from the dead and include them too -- just so the cycle of forgotten CLEC life can be complete once again....