A telephone company (or telco) provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications. Most of the largest telcos are or were at one time nationalized or state-regulated monopolies. These monopolies are often referred to, primarily in Europe, as PTTs. Telcos are also known as common carriers and local exchange carriers. With the advent of cellular telephony, telcos now include wireless carriers, or network operators. Most telcos now also function as ISPs, and the distinction between telco and ISP may disappear completely over time, as the current trend for supplier convergence in the industry continues. On the original Saturday Night Live, guest host comedian Lily Tomlin satirized the attitude of the Bell System, which held monopoly control of the telephone industry in America, with a skit in which she played one of her trademark characters, telephone operator Ernestine. In the skit, she disconnects the phone service for a large area, and utters the now-famous quote:
- "We don't care.
- We don't have to.
- We're the phone company."
Telcos include:
- Aliant
- ALLTEL
- Amena (now part of Orange)
- América Móvil
- Bharti Airtel, the leading telco in India
- AT&T ([1] for Pre-merger with SBC)
- BC TEL (now part of Telus)
- Belgacom
- Bell Atlantic (Merged with GTE, now Verizon)
- Bell Labs
- Bell Canada (see also List of Canadian telephone companies)
- BellSouth (bought-out by AT&T)
- BroadVoice
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
- Brasil Telecom (Brazil)
- BT
- Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC)
- B-Mobile
- Cable and Wireless
- CANTV
- Celcom (Malaysia)
- CenturyTel
- China Telecom
- China Netcom
- China Unicom
- China Mobile
- Claro (Brazil, mobile only)
- Chunghwa Telecom
- Cincinnati Bell
- Cricket Communications
- Commonwealth Telephone (Merged with Citizens Communications in March 2007)
- Deutsche Telekom
- Deltacom
- DiGi Telecommunications (Malaysia)
- Du (United Arab Emirates)
- Edutel
- Embratel (Brazil)
- Energis (Merged with Cable and Wireless)
- Engin
- Entel
- embarq (landline phone provider, spun-off from Sprint Nextel Corp)
- Etisalat (United Arab Emirates)
- France Télécom
- Frontier (company)
- GLOBUL
- GTE (Merged with Bell Atlantic, now Verizon)
- GVT (Brazil)
- ITT Corporation
- Jersey Telecom (formerly Jersey Telecoms)
- Just Dial Communications
- KPN
- Korea Telecom
- Leap Wireless International Inc
- Level 3
- Magyar Telekom (formerly MATÁV)
- Maxis Communications (Malaysia)
- MCI (MCI WorldCom) (Merged with Verizon)
- Network America
- NTT
- NYNEX (Verizon buyout)
- Orange
- Orbitel (Bulgaria)
- OTE
- Pioneer Telephone
- Portugal Telecom
- Puerto Rico Telephone
- Romtelecom (Romania)
- Qwest
- Sasktel
- SBC Communications (Merged with AT&T)
- SFR
- Iceland Telecom
- SingTel (Singapore)
- Sprint Nextel Corporation (only a wireless provider, see embarq for landline services)
- StarHub (Singapore)
- SunRocket
- Swisscom
- Telcel
- Telecom Egypt SAE
- Telecom Italia
- Telecom New Zealand
- Tele2
- Telefónica
- Teleglobe
- Telekom Austria
- Telemar
- Telenor
- Telkom (South Africa)
- Telkom (Indonesia)
- Telfort
- Telia
- Telmex
- Telstra
- TELUS
- Thus (formerly Scottish Telecom)
- TPSA (Telekomunikacja Polska SA)
- Tuckersmith Communications Co-Operative
- T-Mobile
- US West (now Qwest)
- Verizon
- Videotron
- Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd
- Vodafone
- Vonage
- Voxbone
- VTR Globalcom
- Windstream
- WorldCom (mergered with MCI)
- Yourphone
See also
- PSTN
- VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
- ITSP Internet Telephony Service Provider
- CLEC
- ILEC
- RBOC
- List of mobile network operators
- Mobile network operator
