Our business in brief

BT is one of the world’s leading communications services companies. Our vision is to be dedicated to helping customers thrive in a changing world.
 
 
  What we do   Who we do it for     Where we operate
     
  Our capabilities range from:   Our more than 16 million customers range from individual consumers with a single phone line, to government departments and some of the world’s biggest multinational companies.

  		   BT serves customers in over 170 countries. In order to be where our customers need us
to be, we are growing our
global business organically
and through acquisition.
  arrow the provision of a single, domestic telephone line in the UK to the development of an innovative global network infrastructure for the twenty-first century;    
             
  arrow mission-critical global networked IT services for multinationals to broadband packages for the home;   2008 revenue by customer segment
(%) 		   Non-UK regional revenue growth in 2008
        Revenue chart
blue box Major corporate
Green Business
pink Consumer
grey Wholesale/ carrier

   Arrow  15%
Europe
(excluding UK)
  arrow next generation TV to voice over IP services; and    
Arrow 19%
Americas
   
arrow innovative calls packages for homes and businesses to value-added services such as online trading communities and comprehensive IT support.
Arrow 66%
Asia Pacific
     
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  The way we do business          
           
  The BT values capture the way we get things done. They are at the heart of every compelling customer experience.   We are committed to contributing positively to society and a sustainable future. This is at the heart of BT:   iso 9001 We have ISO 9001 certification for most of our operations in the UK and around the world.  
       
       
       
      arrow our UK CO2 emissions are 58% below their 1996 levels and we are committed to achieving an 80% reduction from our 1996 baseline by 2016   We aim to do business in an innovative, ethical and sustainable way in accordance with our published code of practice – The Way We Work. Not only do we believe that’s the right thing to do, but we also believe that it’s good business – good for customers, good for shareholders and good for the communities in which we operate.  
  Our values are:      
         
Trustworthy: we do what we say we will
           
  Helpful: we work as one team   arrow we commit a minimum of 1% of our UK pre-tax profits in cash and in kind to activities which support society.    
           
  Inspiring: we create new possibilities        
               
  Straightforward: we make things clear   In 2008 BT was ranked as the top company in the telecommunications sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the seventh year in a row.   We have recently won the following awards:  
           
Heart: we believe in what we do  
   
   
           
  Dow Jones   Company of the year   Queens Award
           
           
 
 
  Our structure                 2008 external revenue by line of business
        (%)
       BT Group     External Revenue blue box BT Global Services
  BT Global Services   BT Retail   BT Wholesale   Openreach     Green BT Retail
            pink BT Wholesale
                grey Openreach
        BT Design        
                   
          BT Operate        
                   
 
  How we are structured
 
  We are meeting the needs of our different customer groups – major corporates, government and financial institutions; consumers; small and medium-sized enterprises; and other communications providers – through four customer-facing lines of business, supported by two internal functional units.
  Business unit     2008 focus
   
  BT Global Services        
   
  BT Global Services serves corporate, carrier and government organisations across the world, providing high-performance managed networked IT services, application management, professional services and outsourcing solutions.     We continued to grow the business, listened to our customers’ needs and focused on offering and delivering new high-value, mission-critical services and propositions. As a result:
      arrow Over 60% of Fortune Global 500 companies and over 65% of FTSE 100 companies are our customers
      arrow With EBITDA marginsa of 11.2%, we are making progress towards our 15% target.
  BT Retail        
         
  BT Retail serves consumer customers and small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK, providing a range of innovative products and services. It also comprises BT Ireland and our Enterprises division.     We focused on providing retail customers with a range of services to help them communicate more effectively, access entertainment and manage their lives and we helped SMEs concentrate on what they do best:
      arrow BT is the UK’s most popular broadband retailer
      arrow Around 1 million businesses rely on us.
  BT Wholesale        
         
  BT Wholesale brings economies of scale to 700+ UK communications companies, through a diverse portfolio ranging from nationally available broadband, voice and data connectivity services and interconnect, to bespoke, fully managed network outsourcing and value-added solutions.     We continued to provide services to carriers and, increasingly, our focus has been on the provision of innovative managed network solutions:
    arrow Four-year outsourcing deal with the Post Office
    arrow Provision of voice network management services to Virgin Media.
  Openreach        
         
  Openreach is responsible for the crucial ‘first mile’ connecting communications providers’ customers to their local telephone exchange, giving them equal, open and economic access to the UK network.     We focused on continuing to deliver and comply with the Undertakings made to Ofcom, while driving efficiencies and enhancing service levels. We achieved significant progress in enhancing the competitive environment in the UK communications services market:
      arrow 4.3 million unbundled non-BT lines in the UK
      arrow Over 40% improvement in service provision lead times.
  BT Design and BT Operate        
         
  BT Design is responsible for the design and deployment of the platforms, systems and processes which support our products and services, and BT Operate is responsible for their operation. BT Design is also implementing our UK twenty-first century network infrastructure.
a  Before specific items and leaver costs.