BT 1997 Annual Report Download - page 7

BUSINESS REVIEW
7
These markets are currently
valued at $36 billion and expected
to be worth $60 billion by 2000.
In the US, MCI and Telefonica will
provide customised products,
promotions and marketing
programmes targeted on the
US Hispanic community.
Portugal Telecom becomes the
exclusive distributor of Concert
Communications’ voice products in
Portugal and, with MCI, will also
explore opportunities in Brazil –
Latin America’s largest
communications market.
Industry experts predict that, within
the next ten years, the economy
and telecommunications activity of
the Asia-Pacific region will be
similar in size to those of Europe or
North America. BT already has
offices in Japan, Australia, China,
Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the
Philippines and India. Our sales
also reach into New Zealand,
Brunei and Vietnam.
BT is a leading supplier of
value-added data networks in
Japanand,inMarch,announced
a strengthening of its relationship
with Marubeni Corporation.
Network Information Services,
in which BT has a 36 per cent stake
and Marubeni 41 per cent, joined
forces with BT Japan on 1 April
1997 to form BT Network
Information Service. The new
company – which will provide
business customers in Japan with
the full range of domestic products
and services currently available,
as well as access to Concert
Communications’ portfolio - will be
51 per cent owned by BT, 31 per
cent by Marubeni and 18 per cent
by minority shareholders.
In March, BT teamed up with
a number of partners, including
NTT-Japan’sprincipal
telecommunications operator –
to bid for Singapore’s second
telecommunications licence, which
will be awarded next year. The
Singapore market – one of the
most important international
communications hubs in the world -
will be open for competition in
2000 and could be worth around
£3.5 billion per annum.
Inside the UK
BT’s UK network is one of the most
advanced in the world, and we
have invested more than £27 billion
since we were privatised in 1984
to ensure that we can continue to
deliver the most up-to-date, reliable
and well-managed services to our
customers. Over £2 billion was
invested in 1996/97.
BT provides around seven million
business customer connections
and over 20 million residential
customer lines, served by more
than three million kilometres of
optical fibre and 100,000 kilometres
of copper cable, 7,500 local
telephone exchanges and 69
main switching units.
The volume of traffic carried by the
network is increasing rapidly as
people spend longer on the phone,
use more telephone services,
such as Call Return 1471 and
Call Minder, and take advantage of
new communications media, such
as the Internet.
We are introducing new
technologies to carry traffic – phone
conversations, data, video and
documents – around the network
in order to give our customers a
faster, more reliable, and more
flexible service. By the end of
March 1997, for example, BT had
installed around one million high-
speed ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) channels.
To prepare for the future, BT will be
enhancing its network and systems
significantly over the next few
years, building in greater
intelligence to enable us to
introduce new services more
quickly, and to make them available
to even more of our customers.
Innovation
BT has a world-class reputation
for technological innovation. Our
investment in research and
development amounts to about two
per cent of annual turnover – £291
million for 1996/97. Our aim is to
develop and enhance products
and services which will add value
to our customers’ personal and
business lives.
One market of vital importance for
them, and for us, is the Internet. To
get started on the Internet, people
need a link into it and BT has
developed BT Internet to provide
this connection for the mass
market. Once on-line, people can
send electronic mail (e-mail) to
friends worldwide, shop or search
for information on everything from
astrology to zoology.