| The Telecom Expense Management Industry was | | | | consistent growth. |
| virtually nonexistent until the early 1980s due to the | | | | Another reason for the recent growth of the |
| presence of the monopoly of the American | | | | Telecom Expense Management industry has been the |
| Telephone & Telegraph Company, which meant that | | | | advent of cellular phones as well as the internet. |
| everybody had to use the only available | | | | Previously telecom expenses were only limited to |
| telecommunications carrier and the only way to | | | | phone calls, but now data usage as well as cellular |
| reduce expenditure on telecom bills was to reduce | | | | usage charges have come into play and companies |
| usage. However during the late 1990s competition | | | | have to spend large sums on these services as well. |
| between telecom service providers in USA had | | | | Therefore the management of expenses on all of |
| increased to the extent that most of them had | | | | these services has become too difficult for several |
| started creating several different business packages | | | | companies to carry it out themselves and many have |
| to suit individual companies. Along with this came the | | | | found it cheaper to outsource Telecom Expense |
| rise in the number of companies who provided | | | | Management to specialist companies instead of hiring |
| telecommunication services and this led to a large | | | | its own people to do the job. This means that |
| number of options available to businesses and more | | | | Telecom Expense Management firms today do not |
| flexibility in choosing service providers. While some | | | | need just the basic knowledge about which company |
| companies chose to continue the same telecom plan | | | | charges the least for phone calls but now they must |
| with the company they were previously dealing with, | | | | also know about the cheapest internet service |
| several setups started researching ways to reduce | | | | providers and cellular phone companies. |
| their expenses on telecommunication and its related | | | | Although the Telecom Expense Management industry |
| services. | | | | started and has currently made the most progress in |
| As there were initially no dedicated setups to help | | | | the United States, several other countries have |
| companies with any form of Telecommunications | | | | started using the method recently. These companies |
| Expense Management, companies had to give their | | | | have mostly always found out about TEM through |
| own employees the task of negotiating new | | | | the internet and thus a demand has been created for |
| contracts and/or finding alternative companies who | | | | it in several countries. The Telecommunications |
| had lower rates. The employees, mostly unskilled for | | | | Expense Management industry now has an increasing |
| these types of jobs, usually brought only marginal | | | | presence in several Asian, European and African |
| reductions in the expenditure on telecom companies. | | | | countries. Among these, India and The Philippines |
| The opportunity of creating companies specializing in | | | | have statistically seen the largest growth as these |
| Telecom Expense Management was seen at this time | | | | two countries are the main receivers of outsourced |
| by a few people who created small setups and | | | | call center work from developed countries. This |
| started gaining experience in TEM. It was not until | | | | means that a large number of corporations set up |
| 1997 that a couple of high profile companies emerged | | | | their call centers there and these call centers have to |
| which had their main specialization in Telecom | | | | find the cheapest possible rates from service |
| Expense Management. After this point the Telecom | | | | providers so that they may maximize their profits. |
| Expense Management industry has shown an almost | | | | |