Covad's name came from "copper value added," and every foot of that copper belonged to someone else. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 forced the old Bell phone companies to rent their lines to competitors. Covad was one of the boldest companies to take up the offer. It installed DSL equipment in central offices across the country and sold fast internet, mostly through internet providers. When Covad went public in January 1999, it was building one of the largest DSL networks in the United States.

First Into Every Market

Charles McMinn, a Silicon Valley executive, co-founded Covad in 1996. The bet was that the regulated phone network could become a platform for new broadband carriers. Covad rented the lines and put its own DSL gear at the phone company's end. It raced to be first into the most markets. It spent heavily on equipment and staff before most customers had signed up. The plan was to win the market before the Bell companies could respond.

Chapter 11, Then Platinum

Covad priced its offering at $18 a share in January 1999, and its stock rose steeply through the year. The pace was hard to sustain. Disputes with the Bell companies, unpaid bills from failing internet providers, and the telecom crash pushed Covad into Chapter 11 in 2001. It emerged and kept operating. Platinum Equity acquired it in 2008, and its network served business customers for years after.

Cover: Tree-Lined Road with Houses and Telegraph Poles in Distance, George-Ernest Colby. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a road lined with telegraph poles (copper lines).