thegrimreaper will sit upon his hands

Yeh, totally agree Steve, there are 13 telecommunication firms operating in the UK, more if you count the emerging ‘broad band’ firms, and as you can see from the pre-tax profits below, nearly all of these small firms, excepting BT.A and C&W are being supported by the banks.
The banks will not turn the lights out on these unprofitable firms because they have no infrastructure of any value, the banks stand to loose all of its investment if they let these firms go to the wall, ineffectually they are worth fuck-all.
So the banks will continue to hold onto and support these virtual telecommunications companies until such a time as the sector is consolidated into perhaps three major players, although at this point I find it difficult to view any future telecomm player emerging with profits sufficient to enable them to create a third force strong enough to trade blows with the likes of cable and bt.

Although O2 looks a real candidate.

Consolidation of this sector will prove our only salvation and this aint gonna happen overnight, we have got to be looking at a five year period surely?

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