In an announcement today, CenturyLink (#1340 on The Global 5000 list) is going to acquire Savvis (#3084 on The Global 5000 list). CenturyLink is also in the process of getting all the regulatory clearances to complete the acquisition of Qwest. CenturyLink is on a fast growth path moving from $4.9 billion to $7 billion in 2010.

One of the interesting things here is the contrast in the business models between the Telecom industry and Business Services. We take a look at the 2 industries below.

In The Global 5000 list of companies, we have 141 Telecom companies and 271 for Business Services. Telecom represents $1.6 trillion of annual revenue compared to $800 billion for Business Services

The Telecom companies have a revenue per employee of $391,000 compared to $163,000 for business services.  So, one challenge is obviously how to leverage the people intensive business model of business services.  Some specialty areas like Savvis and their IT/co-clocation are likely better posiitioned here than other, larger consulting focused business service players.

Looking at the social nature of the industries, they are quite similar with 28% of telecom employees having a LinkedIn profile and 21% of the business service employees

In the area of Corporate Training & education, Business Services spend over $700 million compared to approximately $250 million for telecom — again, the people intensive nature of the business.

The top 10 Telecom companies in The Global 5000 are:

And, In Business Services, the largest firms are:

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