The Purchase of a Monopoly: France Telecom Acquires TPSA

Abstract

France Telecom (FT) acquired Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA) in 2000, just before the economic slow down and a worldwide crisis in the telecommunication market. Despite the unfavourable timing, the acquisition appears to have been managed quite successfully under regulatory conditions that protected against entry in the core business, fixed line telephony. Thus, one might argue that FT bought a monopoly, which raises an interesting question: What was really bought: a telecommunication company or the monopoly?KeywordsMobile TelephonyTelecom OperatorLondon Stock ExchangeTelecommunication MarketFrance TelecomThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.