Margin compression is a problem of long standing in the connectivity industry. Generally speaking, profit margins have declined over time, partly because of new competition, partly because of better technology, partly because of government rules promoting lower prices.
Generally speaking, profit margins were highest in the monopoly era, when telecom companies operated as sanctioned monopolies. As newer markets have operated in a competitive manner, profit margins have been lower, even if mass market adoption has been helped by those lower prices.
Calling rate trends clearly show the impact of competition and better technology (including voice over IP calling and messaging substitutes; substitution of email and texting and messaging for voice communications).
One can see the same trend for home broadband or wide area network data transport prices.
To the extent that WAN transport revenue has not plummeted directly, it is because volumes of data to be moved have increased so much.
But there have been other effects, such as the displacement of most traditional telcos as meaningful providers of WAN data transport, compared to private networks operated by hyperscalers and other long-haul data transport specialists.
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