Virgin Media 2012 Annual Report Download - page 15

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Applications and Services
As an overlay to network products, we also offer applications, such as video-conferencing, and managed services,
such as information security services, designed to increase flexibility and reduce costs to our customers.
Voice
We offer a comprehensive range of voice products, from analog and digital services to converged internet protocol,
or IP, telephony solutions. Our business voice solutions include basic features, such as call divert and voicemail, as
well as products such as Centrex, which provides switchboard-like capability that is managed from our telephone
exchange, offering our customers a cost-effective, scalable alternative to a premises-based system. These mature
services continue to be offered in parallel with a next generation of converged services, allowing customers to migrate
to new technologies gradually.
Marketing, Sales and Customer Service
Our marketing, sales and customer service initiatives are structured around the differentiated needs of our retail and
wholesale customers. Our retail customer base comprises private and public sector organizations, while our wholesale
customers include primarily mobile and fixed-line service providers, systems integrators, or SIs, and internet service
providers, or ISPs.
Retail Customers
Private Sector
Our private sector retail services focus on a range of the telecommunications needs from small businesses to large,
national corporations. Centralized telephone account managers serve small organizations (with 50 to 99 employees),
while regionally-located account, service and project management teams, supported by pre-sales technical consultants,
provide service to medium and large U.K. businesses (with over 100 employees). We believe that our local presence
and the resulting level of service we provide is a key differentiator in this mid-market segment, and that the benefits
of this strategy are reflected in the long term relationships held with many of our private sector customers.
Public Sector
Our public sector retail services are structured around industry-specific segments, such as local government, education,
health and emergency services. This enables us to provide sector-specific expertise where an understanding of the
drivers and procurement processes of publicly funded organizations are necessary for efficient deployment of
communications solutions. We believe that the inclusion of VMB as an approved supplier under various government
framework agreements acts as both an enabler of growth of our market share in this sector and an endorsement of
our track record, commitment and capability to offer value to publicly funded organizations.
Wholesale Customers
Our wholesale services are structured around the network requirements of the different types of service providers.
Specialized account and service management teams support carriers, mobile operators, SIs and ISPs. We provide
predominantly data connectivity services, both in terms of local access and core networks, including high bandwidth
connections between a site and the core network.
Business Segment Competition
The U.K. business telecommunications market is characterized by strong competition and ongoing consolidation.
Competition in the U.K. business telecommunications market continues to be value driven, with the key components
being quality, reliability and price.
VMB competes primarily with traditional network operators such as BT and C&W. BT represents the main competitive
threat nationally due to its network reach and product portfolio. We also compete with regional providers, such as
COLT Telecom Group plc, which have a strong network presence within limited geographic areas. Recently, we have
faced increasing competition from services provided by MNOs which target small business customers.
In the retail market our traditional competitors are becoming increasingly focused on particular segments of the market.
For example, C&W targets larger national and multi-national corporations. We continue to focus on small, medium
and large nationally oriented businesses and public sector organizations. System integrators, such as Kcom (formerly
known as Kingston Communications (Hull) plc), are also becoming an increasing competitive threat as large
organizations continue to focus on IT integration, management and outsourcing.
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