U.S. Telecom Mergers and Acquisitions: A Bad Idea or a Good Idea

U .S . Telecom Mergers and Acquisitions : A Bad Idea or a Good Idea

2007 U .S . Telecom Mergers and Acquisitions : A Bad Idea or a Good Idea

Introduction

In general , communication means any information exchange between two people or more . The definition is slightly different from that of telecommunication . According to National Telecommunication and Information Administration in United States , telecommunication refers to any transmission of signals (voice , images , video , and text ) to designated recepients through optical , wireless radio , and other electromagnetic systems . In fact , telecommunication supports the way people communicate

and vice versa , especially in digital era

The coming of digital technology , as represented by a series of two binary digits : `0 ' and `1 , few decades ago has enabled people to convert any kind of information (voice , text , data , and video ) into other forms . This advantage of digital age , in turn , enables us to experience the era where people can communicate in many forms : voice (through telephone , handy talky etc , data (short message services /SMS facsimile etc , and video (video streaming , video conference etc . This situation refers to the era people call as the convergence in digital technologies

The convergence of digital technologies including television , telephony and computers has supported the growing number of innovations of the Internet that grew from inter-university computer networks in United States . The situation explains that telecommunication has vital role in helping organization to bring down costs of communications

Concerning the role of telecommunications in business , Ciborra (2002 reveals that telecommunications network existence does not only enable people to communicate but also to reduce transaction costs by aligning business process within and between organizations . The situation does not occur at medium-size companies but also to large and small companies as well

Currently , the development of telecommunication services and systems grow at extreme speed . The use of voice-centric network like traditional telephony has been replaced to some degree by the emerging data-centric network like VoIP (voice over internet protocol . Other systems that attract network developers ' attention are 3G (Third Generation , Private Automatic Branch Exchange , Virtual PBX System , WiMax , Centrex , latest design on network redundancy , and many others

All advanced technology is useless if carriers or operators cannot employ the benefits of the technology to serve the market . In to serve the market well , a carrier should understand what the customers want and needs including their expectation and the affordability representing the price that customers want to buy for a service or product

Because customers have different kinds of telecommunication services the situation encourages service providers to merge and acquire competing or complementary companies so that they gain competitive advantages

Concerning the wave of mergers and acquisitions that happen within telecommunication companies in the U .S , this will discuss whether the merger and acquisition present benefits or vice versa . In other terms , the highlights whether U .S . telecom mergers and acquisitions is a bad idea or a good idea

Statement of the Problem

The fierce competition of business in a particular market has driven...