Our global reach
In Europe, we own operations in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe. We deliver service to our customers in Italy through our joint venture, Albacom, and our applications hosting company, I.Net. In the Americas and the Asia Pacific region, we deliver service to our customers through a combination of direct sales and services operations and strategic partners.
      Our network-based services (Frame Relay, ATM and IPVPN) extend to and across North and South America and the Asia Pacific region. This means that products are delivered seamlessly within and from Europe to our own locations in the Americas and delivered locally through interconnect and supply agreements with regional carriers.

	As at 31 March 2004, our flagship MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) product, which was launched in 2002, had 1,000 points of presence around the globe and could be accessed from more than 70 countries. MPLS-based IP virtual private networks are the next generation of data networks for corporate customers, supporting voice, data and video applications, offering enhanced flexibility and service performance. MPLS revenues grew by 102% during the 2004 financial year.
Global customer service is provided via service and network management centres around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Twenty-first century network As one of our strategic priorities, we are working to create an intelligent, flexible and customer-focused network for the 21st century (21CN). BT’s 21CN is designed to support the next generation of services and revenues for BT and for our wholesale customers, while enhancing the customer experience and reducing costs through greater network intelligence and automation.      21CN aims to support the end-to-end transformation of BT’s wholesale business and is designed to deliver tangible benefits to our customers’ businesses. The multi-service capabilities of 21CN were refined during a period of consultation with many of the leading communications operators in the industry, as well as technical and equipment vendors from around the world.      The phased introduction of the new platform will support communication in a range of formats and across multiple devices. 21CN will also introduce new levels of network simplicity, intelligence and flexibility and will aim to support the delivery of new revenue-generating services faster than is currently possible.      This is an innovative, long-term transformation programme which is already delivering benefits for our customers. Key developments in the 2004 financial year included:
	a programme of industry consultation to help refine the network’s technical architecture requirements.
	BT’s supplier base for next-generation exchange equipment to support voice, video and data was expanded following comprehensive assessments and trials.
	advanced next-generation network component and services trials will enable us to begin to move 21CN from the laboratory to the live network over the next 12 months.
	we continued to eradicate duplication, increase efficiency and reduce network operating costs. For example, our Hands Off Access Network project is helping to improve efficiency by minimising manual network intervention and reducing exchange visits.
	We expect to launch a range of new commercial broadband services over the next 12 months. These include:
	variable bandwidth – giving users the power to boost temporarily broadband speeds online, providing access to premium content such as DVD-quality streamed videos or online gaming.
	digital content management – capitalising on flexible bandwidth, we are launching a platform to support the management and distribution of new digital content.
	voice over IP – domestic customers will be able to manage all personal communications from a home PC, enabling phone or video calls over broadband connections.
During the 2004 financial year, we undertook a detailed technical and economic analysis of the options for 21CN deployment. The 2005 financial year will see the initial stages of implementation and live technical trials will begin, prior to investment and deployment decisions being taken.        Capital expenditure is expected to rise, but remain within the group’s £3 billion annual target, in the 2005 financial year as the group invests in its 21CN programme.
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