The UK mobile telephone industry or a specific mobile company.

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Strategic Opportunities and Challenges

For a Mobile Phone Company in

The 21st Century

Introduction

Why would a phone company want to merge with its rival ? Can a mobile phone company compete in the telecommunications industry without losing its long term customers ? Is competition the only way for phone companies to survive in the global marketplace ? Is a mobile phone a new way to connect people or does it alienate the older generation from the younger generation Is a mobile phone `just a phone ' or is it

a status symbol Are political policies the main reason for monopolies in the telephone industry ? How can a phone company maintain the same brand image while reaching out to various markets in the global marketplace ? These are the strategic opportunities and challenges for a mobile phone company in the 21st century . In the final analysis , does a mobile phone increase a person 's power to communicate , or does it distract and hinder communication between people

Sleek . Stylish . With music , voicemail , and movie-playing capabilities all in one device . Fits in the palm of your hands The mobile phone of 2007 is something that most people can 't live without . It is also something that , a few generations ago , few people could have imagined . Any mobile phone company that wants to stay competitive today will benefit from a comparative analysis of the

factors influencing competition among phone companies in the past with the factors

operating in the present 2

I . Competition in the phone industry : A historical overview

Deutssch and Sharpe (1994 ) compare the competitive strategies of phone companies

in 1894 and 1982

Soon after the expiration of Alexander Graham Bell 's basic telephone patents expired in 1894 , competing local phone companies sprang up by the hundreds all across the United States Then and now , no other single market offered a more lucrative

opportunity than New York City . New York Telephone , the local operating company licensed by American Telephone and Telegraph (AT T , was the dominant local exchange company in that city . Its customers were far from happy with its service or its rates however , and this opened up a market opportunity for competing carriers

AT T 's strategy in limiting the operations of its competitors is worth observing

While several independent phone companies made deliberate attempts at breaking into the New York market , was successful New York Electric Lines , Peoples Telephone Company , and the Atlantic Telephone Company were among the most serious contenders . Their efforts were defeated by New York Telephone , local regulators , and economic conditions . To enter this market , these companies required underground conduits to string their lines . These conduits were owned by Empire City Subway Company , which , oddly enough was a subsidiary of AT T . Empire City repeatedly claimed that there was insufficient space in subway tunnels and demanded high fees when they were made available

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AT T also applied pressure to New York Telephone not to interconnect with entrants , a policy it pursued throughout the country...