T-Mobile Head Hamid Akhavan is reported to have predicted that the number of mobile phone operators globally will decline massively in the long-term. “In Europe, we assume that only five or six big mobile phone companies will earn money in the long-term,” Forbes reports him stating. “In Asia and the US, it is a similar number.” Akhavan added that there are currently 50 operators in Europe. “In the long-term, this will not endure.”

Akhavan has been a Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom, responsible for the Mobile Communication business area, since December 2006, and is also Chairman of the Board of Management of T-Mobile International. He is responsible for the management of T-Mobile’s Western and Eastern Europe operation. According to the report, Akhavan said that to date regulation has restricted the rate of consolidation and called for an easing of restrictions.