Mega Telcos
I was just asked to do a review on the “Telecommunications Industry” section of the up and coming “Handbook of Computer Networks” edited by Hossein Bidgoli and to be published by John Wiley and Sons (sometime this year).
The author mentions that most US providers are moving towards providing a Four Play offering (Wireline Voice, Wireless Voice, Internet and Video). With the recent mega-mergers of SBC-AT&T (Baby Bell Buys Ma Bell) and Verizon-MCI, the US telecommunications industry seems to be moving this way. Here is a summary of the new world order:
SBC = SBC (Wireline Voice), AT&T (Long Distance Voice), AT&T (Internet), Cingular (Mobile), SBC-Yahoo (TV)
Verizon = Verizon (Wireline Voice), MCI (Long Distance Voice), MCI (Internet), Verizon (Mobile)
Now let us look at the local Mega Telcos:
PLDT Group = PLDT (Wireline and Long Distance Voice), Infocom/ePLDT/PLDTDSL (Internet), Home Cable (TV), SMART/Piltel (Mobile)
Globe Group = Innove (Wireline and Long Distance Voice), Globe (Internet and Mobile)
Lopez Group = Bayantel (Wireline and Long Distance Voice), Skyinet/Bayantel DSL (Internet), SkyCable (TV), Extelcom? (Mobile)
Gokongwei Group = Digitel (Wireline and Long Distance Voice), DigitelOne (Internet), Sun Cellular (Mobile)
The Group Behind CURE = CURE (Mobile) … and some other partners …
As most of us can probably see, the local scene has always been a convergent one. It is only recently that the US regulatory bodies have allowed such consolidation to take root (Probably still afraid that these companies might consolidate back to a single Bell System). However, in the Philippines, things have always been convergent for a time. So are we reaping the benefits of such consolidation?
March 12th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
[…] When will local mega telcos try to follow suit? All most people need is a enough bandwidth to play fancier MMORPGs. Two (2) of our mega telcos already have both Cable TV networks and Fiber Optic Backbones. Maybe it is just a matter of putting them together? […]