The start of a three-legged race is chaos. There is plenty of movement and noise, but until each pair gets its limbs in sync, little progress.

So it is with consolidation between Europe’s telecoms operators. Makers of telecoms equipment have to watch from the sidelines as newly merged operators figure out how to get their assets working. Ultimately, the absolute cut in spending on networks tends to be marginal as traffic levels determine infrastructure needs. JPMorgan estimates that Verizon’s bid for Alltel, for example, would take just half of 1 per cent off Alcatel-Lucent’s $17bn annual sales.