As Telecom Shifts, Providers Seek New Connections

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey dionne.searcey@wsj.com, Jesse Drucker and Sarmad Ali]
Battling for customers in a quickly changing communications landscape, telephone companies are starting to roll out a range of new gadgets and services that combine wireless, landline and Internet access. For consumers, the strategy could mean further discounts for packages of Internet, landline and wireless services -- and a wider selection of services and gadgets. To pave the way for the new strategy, phone companies have purchased wireless and long-distance providers in deals valued at more than $100 billion in the past two years: SBC Communications bought longtime rival AT&T, a long-distance company, and renamed itself AT&T; Verizon is close to finishing the acquisition of MCI.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113383802531714808.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
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