Communications Regulatory Authority

coming years; fixed network services will continue to form the main market component,
but their share will drop from the 57% of late 2004 to 53% in late 2007.
Figure 1.5. World telecommunications services sector, breakdown between fixed and
mobile (revenues in billion euro)
Source: IDC, 2006 | * Forecasts
Mobile
Fixed
North America, fixed network services
The US fixed telecommunications market has been characterized by the
following structural trends:
• the drop in revenues deriving from voice traffic because of market
competition, including, in particular, that of Voice-over-Internet Protocol
(VoIP) services;
• the lively competitive process in the broadband offerings owing to the
presence of cable operators;
• the growing integration between fixed and mobile communication services;
• the convergence between the audiovisual and the telecommunications
sectors.
In this framework, the operators have decided to reposition themselves on the
market also thanks to merger & acquisition operations. In 2005 the acquisition of
AT&T by SBC was completed, followed by the announcement of the AT&T –
BellSouth merger in March 2006. Following the operation, AT&T will arrive at a
market capitalization of approximately 170 billion dollars, surpassing that of Vodafone
and Verizon, and a turnover of around 130 billion dollars. Moreover, AT&T will
acquire 40% of Cingular, a mobile operator, permitting the preparation of integrated
fixed-mobile offerings and the access to BellSouth’s business customers located in the
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