Merging incumbent European mobile operators: veni, vidi, non vici

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the history of, and prospects for, mergers betweenrnincumbent European mobile operators.rnDesign/methodology/approach - The paper examines the history of proposals for mergers amongrnincumbent mobile operators in Europe over the past two decades, but with a particular emphasis uponrnthe period commencing in 2006. It examines the rationale for the proposals and analyses why, in virtually every case, the proposals failed to come to fruition.rnFindings - The paper argues that there are a set of road blocks that bar the way to realisingrninter-incumbent mergers, and that these are by no means all economic. Given that the environment forrnM&A activity was relatively positive during 2006/2007, yet nothing much was achieved, it now seemsrnlikely that in the febrile environment of the 2008/2009 credit crunch, the topic will return to thernbackbumer.rnOriginality/value - This paper is the first detailed attempt to address this topic.