European Enterprises Should Take Another Look At VNOs For Multisourcing Telecoms

Europe has seen a recent surge of M&A activity centered around virtual network operators (VNOs). Global Telecom and Technology (GTT) was created in October 2006 as a result of the merger of European Telecommunications and Technology (ETT) and Global Internetworking. The following month, Azzurri Communications acquired Sirocom, a UK-based VNO. In January 2007, VSNL launched Cipris — a VNO aimed at European medium-sized companies. All this activity appears to be in response to European firms' growing interest in multisourcing and flexible sourcing for wide-area network (WAN) services. The European VNO sector is poised for significant growth during the next two years, and Forrester recommends that sourcing professionals take a closer look at VNOs when reviewing their telecom sourcing strategy.