The race is on

I'm reminded of an old George Jones song by this name, which contains the fabulous line:

"Now the race is on, and here comes pride up the backstretch,"

and culminates with:

"And the winner loses all."

I don't know if that summation will apply to the M&A arms race unfolding in Europe, but certainly the starting gun on phase two has been fired today. I doubt if there were even any Tuareg nomads who could have been oblivious to this deal, as it was so extensively leaked. There is a conference call in a few minutes and I will return with more later. Suffice it to say that broadband/VoIP/mobile convergence is hereby confirmed as the central deal driver in Europe (as I have previously said), and given the tit-for-tat history of the PTTs in Europe, I think it will not be the last - not by a long shot.