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Home > Newslist
China focuses on BT success
Tuesday May 13th 2008. Posted: 16:30
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Mike Carr has been updating Chinese journalists on the development of 21CN
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BT’s success story in developing its 21st century network (21CN) strategy, expanding its overseas business and improving its service capability has been highlighted in articles in leading Chinese trade publications.
Under the headline What we can learn from BT’s experience, China Computer World states: “BT’s successful transformation sets an example for Chinese telecom operators as they undergo reorganisation and pursue the full-service model.” In an interview, BT Group chief science officer Mike Carr tells the publication that BT has achieved significant headway in its 21CN programme. Mike was also interviewed by another leading Chinese publication - Communications Weekly - which highlights how BT is no longer positioning itself as a telecom operator but as an information communication technology (ICT) provider and an operator based on software. The articles follow a recent visit by Chinese journalists to BT’s IT centre at Adastral Park in Suffolk. China Computer World sets out BT’s journey from becoming a privatised company and highlights BT’s success against fierce competition in the telecoms sector, market saturation and the introduction of regulation. “Due to the formidable competition, in 2003 BT announced a loss of £30 billion,” says the magazine. “Yet, in 2007, the company announced that, through four years’ development, it had gained £24 billion in profits. Furthermore, it maintains a share of about 70 per cent in the fixed telephone market. “BT’s recipe for success was expanding the application fields of telecom networks in a pioneering and fundamental manner. In doing so, it turned from a traditional telecom operator into the bellwether of the ICT industry.” The magazine reports that BT thinks it “cannot do without China” and that, during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, BT will team up with China Netcom to provide communications services. It adds: “BT’s experience tells us that, to excel in competition, telecom enterprises must improve technology and business innovation capabilities.” The author of the Communications World Weekly article says: “In the interview, I strongly sensed the international tone of Britain’s telecom industry. For example, out of the seven major mobile operators, four are foreign enterprises. BT is now ‘non-British’ and ‘non-telecom’. “Among BT’s ten top executives, only two hold British passports. Perhaps it is such high internationalisation that draws eminent professionals in the global telecom industry to Britain, and helps Britain’s telecom industry keep abreast of the world. “British operators take the initiative in the area of convergence. No longer is BT a traditional fixed network operator - it is evolving aggressively towards ICT. “The company has conducted in-depth research in broadband networks, network management, multimedia and information transmission. As a result, BT’s revenue from fixed communication is decreasing. At present, more than one-third of its revenue comes from new services.”
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Last updated:
16:55