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随着时光的流逝,人们已渐渐淡忘了2001年那个巨大的互联网泡沫破裂时的情形:无数公司破产、金融欺诈,以及近万亿美元的投资化为乌有。如今,阴霾散去,人们又感觉到新的机会即将来临,狂热的收购浪潮席卷重来。我们看到,在过去几年当中有不少网络运营公司之间、电信设备制造公司之间发生了巨额的收购或兼并。在美国,SBC花160亿美元买下AT&T,并保留了它的名字;接着以670亿美元的代价吞下BellSouth。与此同时,SBC的竞争对手Verizon用80.4亿美元收购了MCI。在欧洲,西班牙的电信公司Telefonica以310.3亿美元收购了移动电话公司O2,获得了它在欧洲多国的网络资源;英国有线电视公司NTL以9.62亿英镑买下移动电话公司Virgin;而以赢利为基准算得上世界最大移动电话公司的Vodafone决意退出日本市场,以150.4亿美元把它在日本的业务卖给了当地的固定电话公司Softbank。除了以上兼并及其它的交易活动外,这些网络运营公司已经开始不余遗力地搭建“下一代网络”了。Verizon计划投资180亿美元用于新的网络,而英国的BT则计划投资100亿英镑。这些新的网络不但能提供电话和宽带互联网接入服务,而且能提供电视业务。大的互联网公司如Google,Yahoo!和微软的MSN也在想办法用互联网提供免费的电话服务。Skype是这个市场上的佼佼者,现已被eBay以20.6亿美元收购。设备制造公司也开始强强联合,如世界上最大的网络设备制造公司Cisco以60.9亿美元买下制造机顶盒的Scientific-Atlanta;Alcatel和Lucent以110亿美元完成合并;Nokia和Siemens则把它们的网络设备制造部合二为一。乍看上去,这些兼并活动彼此之间并无联系,但追其根由却只有一个,那就是“聚合”趋势,这是一切交易的驱动力,是当今电信行业的主旋律。
As time passed, people were oblivious to what happened when the huge Internet bubble burst in 2001: the myriad of bankruptcies, financial fraud and nearly a trillion-dollar investment. Now, the haze is gone, and people are feeling the new opportunities coming, the wave of fanatical acquisition swept back. We have seen that during the past few years there have been huge acquisitions or mergers among many network operation companies and telecom equipment manufacturing companies. In the United States, SBC spent $ 16 billion buying AT & T and retaining its name; it swallowed BellSouth for about $ 67 billion. Meanwhile, SBC rival Verizon bought MCI for $ 8.04 billion. In Europe, Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company, acquired mobile phone company O2 for $ 31.03 billion and acquired its network resources in several European countries; British cable TV company NTL bought mobile phone company Virgin for £ 962 million; and on a profit basis Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone company, is determined to quit the Japanese market and sold its Japanese operations to Softbank, a local fixed-line company, for $ 15.4 billion. In addition to the above mergers and other trading activities, these network operators have begun to spare no effort to build a “next generation network.” Verizon plans to invest $ 18 billion for the new network, while BT in the UK plans to invest £ 10 billion. These new networks not only provide telephone and broadband Internet access services, but also provide television services. Big internet companies such as Google, Yahoo !, and Microsoft’s MSN are also finding ways to use the internet for free telephone services. Skype is the market leader and is now acquired by eBay for $ 2.06 billion. Equipment manufacturing companies are also beginning to get together, such as Cisco-the world’s largest network equipment manufacturing company to buy Scientific-Atlanta to create set-top boxes for 6.09 billion US dollars; Alcatel and Lucent to 11 billion US dollars to complete the merger; Nokia and Siemens put their network Equipment manufacturing division into one. At first glance, these mergers are not linked to one another, but there is only one root-cause for the merger, which is the “convergence” trend, which is the driving force behind all transactions and the main theme of today’s telecommunications industry.