BT 1998 Annual Report Download - page 11

B U S I N E S S R E V I E
Cellnet plans to launch a radio-on-demand service,
allowing people to access personalised news and sports
voice reports – beginning with football – at the touch of
abutton on a Cellnet digital phone.
Card Services
BT’s Card Services have developed and launched Concert
Card, BT’s first truly international calling card for the
global marketplace. Launched initially in three European
markets in association with our joint venture partners in
Italy and Germany, Concert Card combines local tailoring
with BT’s global capacity to offer a seamless service to
international customers outside of the UK. It is positioned
specifically to appeal to business travellers from abroad
who have a need to call internationally.
Pricing
Since December 1993, BT has cut call prices by more
than £2 billion.
At the same time, we have introduced a wide range of
flexible optional discount schemes tailored to suit the
needs of all our business and residential customers.
BT has a minimum call charge of 5p at basic rates – 3.8p
with PremierLine and Friends & Family discounts.
The biggest reduction in the year came in May 1997 when
BT cut the price of national daytime calls by ten per cent.
At the same time, regional daytime calls were cut by
3.8 per cent.
In September 1997, the pricing structure of BT payphones
was simplified. The 10p minimum fee remains unchanged
and customers now receive up to 50 per cent more time
for their money on UK long-distance daytime calls.
And the cost of calling has continued falling since the year
end. On 29 April 1998, the cost of local calls made in the
evening and overnight, Monday to Friday, came down by
more than ten per cent – from 1.7p a minute to 1.5p.
In December 1997, BT welcomed a High Court decision
to lift a temporary injunction preventing us from
circulating a report which compared our prices favourably
with those of Cable & Wireless Communications.
BT recognises that customers need to compare what each
supplier has to offer and assess which is best for them.
But, to make a realistic comparison between BT and other
suppliers, customers need to be able to compare like with
like. In competitors’ advertising activity, it is often their
best call discounts that are compared with BT’s base call
rates and no account is taken of our discount packages.
Marketing
Marketing campaigns have played a key role in relaying
the message that BT is committed to cutting prices and to
changing the way people in the UK regard the telephone.
Thanks to campaigns such as It’s good to talk and
discount packages such as Friends & Family, average
residential telephone usage has increased by more than
two minutes per day since 1994, to a level which is still
only around 60 per cent of that in the USA. Usage per line
per day has increased by more than 42 seconds in the
past 12 months.
Last year saw the launch of several new marketing
campaigns aimed at increasing the number of residential
customers connected to BT.
Our Acquisition campaign, involving a mailing to all
UK households not benefiting from a telephone service,
has resulted in over 45,000 new customers choosing to
connect to BT.
Our Reconnection campaign has been even more
successful, attracting a further 100,000 customers who
International calls – 3 4 %
Local calls – 2 5 %
Regional calls up to 35 miles – 2 8 %
National calls over
35 miles – 4 5 %
Real price cuts since 1993