Mergers and acquisitions in the telecomunication industry (PDF)

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2005 im Fachbereich BWL - Unternehmensführung, Management, Organisation, Note: 1,3, Fachhochschule Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven; Standort Emden, Veranstaltung: Crisis Management in International Mergers and acquisitions!, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Introduction
The telecommunication industry is one of the fastest moving industries, today. Nearly everyday we hear a new story about another mega merger of another insolvent company.
Therefore it may be worthwhile to study this industry. But before talking about Mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunication industry I will first of all give a definition of what telecommunication is.
According to Wikipedia,
Telecommunication is the extension of communication over a distance.[.....] hence the term 'telecommunication' covers all forms of distance and/or conversion of the original communications, including radio, telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication and computer networking.
When talking about telecommunication we can distinguish between carriers, service providers and suppliers.

Carriers
Carriers are companies that offer the cables and wires to enable communication over a distance. A German carrier for example is the Deutsche Telekom because they own a network for communicating. These carriers usually offer communication services too.
Service providers
As the name indicates, service providers offer services. They do not own the network but they can use the network of another carrier and have to pay some kind of rent for it.

Suppliers
Suppliers are companies that sell communication hardware (e.g. mobile phones). They do not own networks or offer any communication services. One of the biggest telecommunication suppliers is the Finnish company Nokia.
As the telecommunication industry is very complex I will only focus on carriers and service providers.