Dangerous liaisons

One of my favorite themes running through the telecom industry is the increasingly fuzzy line between the arms merchants and their customers, a point I touched on at VON using Nokia as an example, though there are others I could have focused on. Though not strictly a comparable case, Intel's strategy in wireless nevertheless interests me tremendously. Following on from the deals with Pipex in the UK, and a handful of others, Intel has now entered into a similar arrangement with Enertel of the Netherlands (plus a separate deal with Orascom). KPN this morning announced that it is acquiring Enertel, though the deal excludes Enertel's spectrum, which will remain in the hands of this JV.