Think of telecommunications as the world’s biggest machine. Strung together by complex networks, telephones, mobile phones and internet-linked PCs, the global system touches nearly all of us. It allows us to speak, share thoughts and do business with nearly anyone, regardless of where in the world they might be. Telecom operating companies make all this happen.

Not long ago, the telecommunications industry was comprised of a club of big national and regional operators. Over the past decade, the industry has been swept up in rapid deregulation and innovation. In many countries around the world, government monopolies are now privatized and they face a plethora of new competitors. Traditional markets have been turned upside down, as the growth in mobile services out paces the fixed line and the internet starts to replace voice as the staple business.

Plain old telephone calls continue to be the industry’s biggest revenue generator, but thanks to advances in network technology, this is changing. Telecom is less about voice and increasingly about text and images. High-speed internet access, which delivers computer-based data applications such as broadband information services and interactive entertainment, is rapidly making its way into homes and businesses around the world. The main broadband telecom technology – Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) – ushers in the new era. The fastest growth comes from services delivered over mobile networks.

Of all the customer markets, residential and small business markets are arguably the toughest. With literally hundreds of players in the market, competitors rely heavily on price to slog it out for households’ monthly checks; success rests largely on brand name strength and heavy investment in efficient billing systems. The corporate market, on the other hand, remains the industry’s favorite. Big corporate customers – concerned mostly about the quality and reliability of their telephone calls and data delivery – are less price-sensitive than residential customers. Large multinationals, for instance, spend heavily on telecom infrastructure to support far-flung operations. They are also happy to pay for premium services like high-security private networks and videoconferencing.

Telecom operators also make money by providing network connectivity to other telecom companies that need it, and by wholesaling circuits to heavy network users like internet service providers and large corporations. Interconnected and wholesale markets favor those players with far-reaching networks.

Telecommunications Act:  Enacted by the U.S. Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the law’s main purpose was to stimulate competition in the U.S. telecom sector.