US Carriers Are Running Out of Growth Options

It's hard to grow in a saturated market, but despite 89 percent cell phone penetration in the U.S., AT&T managed to pull out some impressive revenue growth over the past three years, not because it has the iPhone but because it's been buying other companies. The companies which operate in saturated Western Europe markets are a glimpse of the future for AT&T and even Verizon as U.S. companies run out of acquisition targets. The carriers hope that machine-to-machine communications will save them, but they're still searching for the right business model as well as compelling applications.