Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (3448)	11/6/1998 1:51:00 PM
From: Mazman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

Coming to Europe: Phone Wars (Reuters; 7:56 a.m. 5.Nov.98.PST) CANNES, France -- European telephone prices will come under more pressure as new, efficient contenders attack the big incumbents across the continent, industry leaders told a conference on Thursday. Over the next five years, new companies, empowered by the 1 January 1998 liberalization of European phone regulation, will challenge the likes of British Telecommunications, Deutsche Telekom, and France Telecom, using lower prices and higher quality of service as their main weapons. This will be followed by a battle for survival in the early years of the next century. When the dust settles, only about four or five players will remain. Dataquest analyst John Lilley said new entrants like Worldcom Group and Colt Telecom Group, 55 percent owned by Fidelity Investments of the United States, now hold about 10 percent of the market. "There is enormous scope to impinge on the traditional players," Lilley said. Dataquest said the market for all telephone services in Europe was worth $180 billion in 1997, an increase of 8 percent over the previous year. Telephone company representatives speaking at the conference, sponsored by GartnerGroup, agreed that turmoil was on the menu in Europe for the next few years. "The main factors facing BT are liberalization, with more choice for users, competition, and opportunity," said Andy Green, BT's director, Group Strategy and Development. "Mobile telephony and data over the Internet -- these are all combining to change the business model. We're having to do everything differently." German electronics group Siemens worried about Europeans' ability to cope. "I'm concerned about Europe's ability to adapt to changing worlds. Europeans aren't good at a fast pace of change," Rudi Lamprecht, president of Siemens' product group, said. Participants also worried about the ability of technology companies to hire qualified staff. "Staffing is the greatest challenge we face as an emerging company. We can't even steal any more from BT or Deutsche Telekom," said Christopher Rooney, chief executive officer of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Cignal Global Communications. According to Dataquest's Lilley, "There will be an explosion of new operators, peaking to around 800 by 2001.... Between 1998 and 2001, the downward pressure on call tariffs will become even stronger. We expect the larger new operators to initially undercut the incumbents by 15 percent to 35 percent." Finally, "the competition on price... [will] trigger a shakeout among the new carriers in the 2001-2003 time frame. The next three years will be characterized by a wave of intense merger and acquisition activity mainly among the new operators," Lilley said.