A survival guide for incumbent telcos

The telecommunications industry is undergoing a revolution-transformed by l iberalisation, technological development, new customer demands and the emer gence of new competitive models. The position of the incumbent public telec ommunications operators (PTOs) is increasingly under threat. Their traditio nal domestic markets are being eroded through deregulation and competition, their bandwidth services are being commoditised, margins are falling, conv ergence and the advent of the Internet, mobility and Internet protocol (IP) are transforming their market space, and they are increasingly under threa t from emerging new players. This article considers the new communications environment and its impact on incumbent PTOs, It discusses seven strategic issues which they will need to address in order to survive.