Many fixed line operators are integrating wireless with their traditional phone services, selling the service to consumers with the convenience of having one device and one bill for both mobile and fixed line calls.
Many mobile-phone companies have much higher market valuations than fixed-line operators, despite their more recent origins.
ECONOMIST: A Survey of Telecommunications: The world in your pocket | The
From now on, traditional fixed-line operators will no longer look down on mobile folk.
Compare Thai cellular companies to Thai fixed-line operators, or TRI to Telekom Malaysia.
Fixed-line operators have now cut their infrastructure spending to focus on picking up clients rather than expanding their networks.
"New World is really the poorest of the four fixed-line operators, " says Chang.
They have, he points out, many advantages over fixed-line operators with stronger brands and a closer relationship with their customers.
Fixed-line operators in America have suffered a torrid few years as cable firms and mobile operators have eaten away at their business.
Fixed cellular and wireless-loop technologies are enabling cellular companies to effectively encroach upon the territory that was once the exclusive domain of fixed-line operators.
Others say fixed-line operators, especially those that have a strong fiber optic backbone in place, are better bets because they are players in the broadband services game -- offering pay TV, video-on-demand, home shopping and banking as well high-speed Internet access.
Until then, all areas of Brazil will have at least two rival operators for both fixed-line and mobile services.
The prices mobile operators charge for fixed-line-to-mobile and for mobile-to-mobile interconnection are expected to fall by half over the next four years, says Philip Townsend, a telecoms analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder, a brokerage.
The new measures now formally require anyone signing agreements to access the internet, fixed-line telephone and mobile devices to provide network service operators with "genuine identification information", known as real-name registration, Xinhua reports.
In Egypt, operators often depend on Telecom Egypt's fixed-line infrastructure to carry their mobile services.
And the decision to spin off Sprint's regional fixed-line division paves the way for Sprint Nextel to strike deals with America's cable operators.
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