What are the underlying reasons behind the ongoing merger and outsource activity in the UK telecommunications market?
Clearly the current recession does not help matters, but I believe that an overly optimistic business case for 3G (the desire not to be “left behind” by operators) has lead to massive investment in infrastructure to provide a ground breaking service for which there is currently only limited demand. In order to significantly reduce ongoing costs it makes perfect sense to engage outsource partners who are prepared to share risk, to share infrastructure in order to improve efficiency and even to merge so that operating expenditure can be slashed.
