Why should operators collaborate?

Operators have been collaborating on R&D since the telephone was invented. Without such collaboration and the agreements on standards and correspondent relations the present international telecommunications network, with its ability to handle calls between any countries in the world would not exist. In the modern world, the role of the operator is only one of many roles undertaken by a typical telecommunications company. However, in this, and to a certain extent other roles, today´s telecommunications companies must collaborate, primarily to ensure interconnection and interworking continues, but also because in today´s rapidly changing world, no company has the resources to cover all aspects of the longer term development. Reasons for collaborating and how that collaboration is carried out must eventually depend on the details of each individual project. However a rough guide which is used in BT can be summarised as: compete to grow your market share collaborate to grow the market