Perspectives on Global Telecommunications

9 billion in 1990, to US$43 billion in 1992 and US$52. Philips Tarifica, the consultancy, estimates Deutsche Telekom's revenues will be cut by at least $105m in 2001 because of Internet telephony. The growth of cellular subscribers outpaced that of fixed lines at 61. Correspondingly, international telephone revenues increased steadily from US$ 32. Another 19 million were connected to mobile networks in 1996. The cost of local and long-distance calls will continue to fall as competition develops in countries where hitherto there had been none. In the US, Action Information Services calculates that voice and fax over the Internet will cost North American operators $8bn in revenues over the next four years. The industry is maturing rapidly, finding its way around the clumsy credit-checking, handset subsidies and high charges which have been a primary cause of "churn" - subscribers leaving or being excluded from the network. One essential feature of the global strategies of telecom companies is aggressive expansion and entry into new, emerging telecom markets. International telephone calls increased from less than four billion minutes in 1975 to more than 60 billion minutes in 1996, representing a growth rate of 15% per year. 3% over the previous year, compared with fixed line subscribers, at 6. It was also the date on which the European Union's leading economies had agreed to allow full competition in voice and data services.

A glaring feature of the international telecom market is the growing incidence of alliances, mergers, seen as a move toward consolidation in readiness for the global deregulation.