SOS calls from BT and Ericsson

“Wanted”, it said above a hunted culprit on the front of a national, Swedish tabloid. The two grim‐faced mug shots belonged to Kurt Hellström, CEO of Ericsson, Sweden’s most important telecommunications company. Over in England, Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of Britain’s largest telco, BT, made his 48th company pep talk since joining the company just nine months previously. It fell on anxious, unhumored ears. Needless to say, for shareholders and employees across Europe, the telecom industry is not a comfortable place to be.