A telephone company (or telco) provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications. Most of the largest telcos, whatever their origins, are or were at one time nationalized or state-regulated monopolies^{[citation needed]}. These monopolies are often referred to, primarily in Europe, as PTTs.

Telcos are also known as common carriers, and in the United States as local exchange carriers. With the advent of cellular telephony, telcos now include wireless carriers, or network operators.

Most telcos now also function as internet service providers (ISPs), and the distinction between telco and ISP may disappear completely over time, as the current trend for supplier convergence in the industry continues.

Telephone companies have a range of sizes. Microtelco is a small-scale telecom operator that combine local entrepreneurship, new business models, and low-cost technologies to offer ICT services in areas of little interest to large operators.^[1] See Village telco

Contents 1 Trivia 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Trivia

On the American comedy program Saturday Night Live, guest host comedian Lily Tomlin once satirized the telephone industry (and the country's then-dominant Bell System in particular) 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."

In the satirical 1967 film The President's Analyst, "TPC, The Phone Company," is depicted as plotting to enslave humanity by replacing landlines with cell phones.

[edit] See also

• Alexander Graham Bell honors and tributes
• The Phone Company
• PSTN
• VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
• ITSP Internet Telephony Service Provider
• CLEC
• ILEC
• RBOC
• List of telephone operating companies
• List of mobile network operators
• Mobile network operator

[edit] References

1. ^ Hernan Galperin, François Bar (2006). The Microtelco Opportunity: Evidence from Latin America. University of Southern California. pp. 30. http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~fbar/Publications/Microtelcos-Galperin-Bar-ITID-3_2.pdf. 

[edit] External links

• Village Telco - site about microtelcos