The new firm's board will consist of 12 members, with six drawn from each telecom.
But the industry is pushing ahead with convergence and bundling anyway, for its own purposes.Now that they are all in competition with each other, telecoms firms, cable operators and internet service providers are desperate to hold on to their customers.
He notes that each new telecoms technology spreads more quickly than the last: fixed-line telephones took 50 years to reach 50% of the population, mobile phones took 20 years, the internet ten and broadband five in some parts of the world.
He has built five technology disruptors in fintech and telecoms, each of which also does a bit of good for the world.
In an attempt to revive its share price, BT recently announced a pale imitation of AT&T's plan to separate out its business units.Salami tacticsAlthough each of these big telecoms giants suffers its own particular affliction, they also share some broad common problems.
After the break-up of AT&T in 1984, he notes, it was widely expected that IBM and AT&T would get involved in a two-way fight for domination of computing and telecoms as each tried to move on to the other's turf.
Three other telecoms operators, one each from Spain, France and Germany, are in the top six firms ranked by the value of foreign assets.
And the fact that telecoms firms bought from each other to boost their numbers has shocked nobody but neophytes.
Since the beginning we have enabled free conversations between friends and family – people that know each other," said Stefan Oberg, GM of Telecoms & Desktop for Skype, in the release.
Americans still await the publication of long-promised rules governing how telecoms firms may compete with each other in the market for local services.
