Reorganization of European telecommunications : The cases of British Telecom, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom

British Telecom, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom have all implemented major organizational changes during the past two years. On the one hand their new organizational structures reflect changes in their environment, regulation in particular, as well as in technology. On the other hand their organizational design is a result of the strategic approach taken by management. Due to the fact that networks are the prerequisite for the provision of services and that they account for far more than half of the costs of a telecommunications operator, their organization is crucial for the success of the whole oganization. This paper gives a comparison of the old and the new organizational designs of the three operators.