The dominant economic characteristics of this industry begin with the enormous amount of capital required to remain competitive. It is also necessary to invest a lot of money in research and development, as the telecom industry seems to be the vision of the future. More and more companies like AT&T are trying to combine their telephone line network services, video and data transfer, high-speed Internet access and television cable through a single line into consumers' homes. With a winning combination of the above services, AT&T hopes to become an industry leader in the near future. In today's telecom market there is a lot of competition from industry giants like Sprint, MCI and AOL, but at the same time very high costs involved in entering and competing in this industry also makes it very unattractive for new entrants. These are just a few of the big names that are planning and currently delivering part of the pipe dream that AT&T seems to be pursuing. In this industry it is very important that the customer is aware of the product line you offer. Most of the public hears the name AT&T or Sprint or MCI and thinks of phone bills, but many consumers don't realize that these companies have expanded their scope of services from cell phones to wireless web services. The reason is mainly the lack of marketing and direct-to-consumer advertising provided by these companies on the other line of p...