And the bigger the master agent, the better the contract with the carrier can be, Bradley said.

"There's more space for getting a better contract or better relationship for masters that are able to grow quickly, and as the revenue thresholds [between masters and suppliers] grow," he said.

Some discretionary funds, such as marketing development funds (MDF) and quarterly growth incentives that master agents have come to rely on from their supplier partners, can also start to dry up following a large-scale merger or acquisition. Budgets set aside for the channel can be negatively impacted if another side of a carriers' business is doubt or in flux, Sandy, Utah-based Telarus' Oborn said. 

As a result, M&A activity between service providers is starting to "force" merger conversations between masters to scale quickly, according to Oborn.

Sandler Partners, a Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based master agent acquired Mokena, Ill.-based master agent X4 Solutions in July. IT distributor ScanSource in August took on Petaluma, Calif.-based master agent Intelisys. Seven months later, Intelisys, now a ScanSource company, bought Verizon-exclusive master agent Kingcom.

Intelisys said that the goal of its merger with ScanSource and its acquisition of Seattle-based Kingcom was to continue to help its sales partners grow their businesses, and that telecom M&A activity is illustrating the importance of forming a relationship with a stable master agent that can protect contracts between suppliers and solution providers.

Mike Baur, ScanSource's CEO said that acquiring Intelisys will help more partners – VARs, specifically – resell telecom services. At the same time, the Kingcom acquisition gives ScanSource and Intelisys partners direct access to Verizon for the first time, which will help partners sell more Verizon contracts, Baur told CRN.

The telecom consolidation trend is showing no signs of slowing down. But consolidation won't just mean master agents consuming other master agents. M&A activity will more likely include IT distributors – like ScanSource – getting in on the action, according to Jeff Newton, vice president of operations and engineering for Telecom Brokerage, Inc. (TBI), a Chicago-based master agent that got its start in 1991.

"I do think there will be more alignments and acquisitions made between folks in the channel. It's an absolute no-brainer," he said.

ScanSource already started the ball rolling, but the other large IT distributors that have historically focused on hardware sales will need to turn their attention to services and the recurring revenue that solution sales generate, Newton said.

"If you look at other indirect channels, like hardware distribution, I think there are a lot of synergies there for these [distributors] to look at what the telecom and cloud channel has built, and they want to replicate that," he said. "If you can't replicate it, you buy it."

CRN Associate Editor Michael Novinson contributed to this story.