On the internationalization of European wireless telecommunications service providers

Abstract

Companies can benefit from diversifying internationally. This paper analyzes the internationalization efforts of four major European wireless telecommunications service providers: Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, and Vodafone. Although the four companies have all invested heavily in foreign markets, their internationalization paths have not been the same, resulting in market portfolios with different characteristics. Utilizing a proportionate customer weighting scheme the paper examines how some key aggregate growth, profitability, and risk characteristics of the companies' foreign market portfolios compared in 2007, and how these characteristics changed from 2002 to 2007.