BT 1997 Annual Report Download - page 10

BUSINESS REVIEW
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BT also communicates with
customers via the press, radio,
telemarketing and through
direct mail. In the last year, this
activity resulted in 25 million
customer transactions.
Mobile communications
In the past ten years, the mobile
communications market has
developed at an extraordinary pace
as growing numbers of customers
have signed up, attracted by
expanding international coverage,
ever-improving quality and, above
all, lower prices. The demand for
mobile connections now outstrips
the demand for new fixed lines.
BT has a 60 per cent stake in
Cellnet, the mobile network
operator and, through BT Mobile,
offers customers a range of mobile
communications services. At the
end of 1985, there were just 25,000
mobile phone users in the UK. By
the middle of 1996, the UK market
had grown to nearly seven million
people, with two and a half million
registered as Cellnet customers.
Analysts predict that, by the year
2000, around 12-14 million people
in the UK will have a mobile phone –
that’s nearly one person in four.
Now that people are increasingly
taking for granted the ability to
keep in touch by phone while out
and about, they are also looking to
stay in touch with the office by
e-mail or fax while on the move.
BT has developed a new range of
mobile data products to meet this
need. By connecting a portable
computer to a digital mobile phone
using a special slot-in (SIM) card, it
is now possible to send charts,
graphs and other documents over
the mobile network, as well as to
access critical business computer
systems and e-mail.
Outside the UK, BT has mobile
interests in a number of countries,
including Japan and Germany. And,
in March 1997, BT acquired a
significant stake in Bharti Cellular,
one of the largest mobile operators
in India.
Regulation
During the year, BT reached
agreement with Oftel, the
telecommunications industry
regulatory body, on a set of fair-
trading powers for the Director
General of Oftel and on price
controls for residential services
which take effect in August
this year.
The revised fair-trading powers will
allow the Director General to
regulate the behaviour of all
telecommunications operators in a
fast-moving market.
The price cap of RPI minus 4.5 is
based on the services used by
those residential customers whose
bill size is in the lowest 80 per cent.
Various other licence amendments
were agreed with Oftel and a
vigorous compliance programme
was put in place to ensure that BT
continues to comply with the
requirements of its licences and
Oftel’s orders.
Quality of service
BT recognises that success in
competitive markets requires a
resolute focus on customer
requirements and a commitment
to the continuous improvement of
the quality of all its services.
Industry-wide comparative
performance indicators covering
the period July to December 1996
were recently published. These
show that BT’s performance
continues to compare favourably
with that of its competitors in
almost every area.
To ensure that our customers really
are receiving the kind of service
they require, we have put in place
a comprehensive programme of
customer opinion research. Our
customer satisfaction measures are
based on around 25,000 interviews
every month – telephone and
face-to-face – with our residential
customers and more than 10,000
with our business customers.
The most recent figures show
that 87 per cent of residential
customers and 88 per cent of
business customers expressed
overall satisfaction with BT.
For the six months to March 1997,
more than 98 per cent of business
and residential orders were
completed by a date confirmed
with the customer. In spite of
adverse weather conditions, nearly
89 per cent of faults experienced
by business customers were
cleared within five working hours
or by means of a successful
appointment and almost 80 per
cent of faults experienced by
residential customers were
cleared within nine working hours
or by means of a successful
appointment.
Almost 95 per cent of BT’s 136,000
public payphones were working at
any one time. The number of
multipayment payphones, which
accept coins, phonecards or credit
cards, increased from 12,500 to
more than 32,000.