European Telecom Companies Race to Merge

Europe’s telecommunications companies are on a mission: Build scale before it is too late.

Telecom operators in the region have been on a deals blitz over the past 18 months, with companies in the UK, France, Spain and elsewhere looking to share the burden of rising costs as revenues slide. Some executives fear that if rivals in one country don’t team up, they risk being swallowed up by bigger peers from abroad. “Consolidation isn’t about a monopoly,” said Patrick Drahi, executive chairman of Altice SA, who added that European companies need to bulk up to stave off foreign takeovers. “It’s not the end of competition.”