Scale has always been the name of the game in the telecom industry. Even dating back to the days of the AT&T (T -1.21%) monopoly of the mid-20th century, telecom companies have always grown through acquisition. The financial crisis only temporarily slowed this trend, but we've seen the buyout boom in this space resume with a fury over the last 12 months. We recently saw the latest domino fall as giant AT&T agreed to snap up smaller pre-paid wireless player Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP). In this video, Fool contributor Andrew Tonner breaks down the deal and what it means for investors in this sector.