BT 2000 Annual Report Download - page 9

Business review
08 Annual report and Form 20-F
The review is divided into the following sections:
Introduction
BT in the UK
The new structure
The ®xed network
Marketing and pricing
Customer satisfaction
Ignite our data business
BTopenworld our mass-market internet business
BT Wireless our mobile business
Yell our directories and associated e-commerce
Yell business
Concert
Research and development
Our people
Property
Regulation, competition and prices
Regulation in the UK
Competition
Pricing regulation
Non-UK regulation
Other signi®cant changes and issues
Relationship with HM Government
Legal proceedings
Introduction
BT has set itself an ambitious vision: to be the most
successful worldwide communications group. To achieve
this, we intend to build shareholder value by:
&seizing the many opportunities open to us in the
global market;
&building our current business, focusing on
high-growth areas;
&operating to the highest standards of integrity; and
&ful¢lling our responsibilities to the communities in
which we operate.
We aim to do this by:
&moving rapidly to enable our customers to make the
most of the unprecedented opportunities which arise as
communications technologies converge and the markets
in which we operate are transformed;
&reshaping the company so that an increasing proportion
of our revenues comes from new-wave activities ^
internet, multimedia, mobility, data and solutions;
&expanding our current interests in growth markets
around the world;
&continuing to work with local partners outside the
UK, and increasing our equity investments as
opportunities arise;
&developing and growing our business in the UK, with a
new organisational structure that should enable greater
management focus; and
&structuring the group to allow separate listings of parts
of the business when this is judged to be in our
shareholders' best long-term interests.
We are in the process of transforming BT into a new-wave
communications company, operating globally and
concentrating increasingly on high-growth areas: the
internet, mobility, multimedia, data and solutions.
To achieve this we have been investing signi¢cantly,
building new, high-bandwidth networks that are essential to
support these new activities. We have also been building up
our activities outside the UK, particularly in Europe, North
America and the Asia-Paci¢c region. We have interests in
mobile and ¢xed-line operations capable of reaching about
80% of the population of western Europe and virtually all of
its major business centres. In the Asia-Paci¢c region, we have
interests in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the
Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
We have made a number of signi¢cant acquisitions since
the beginning of the 2000 ¢nancial year:
&In November, we acquired for »3.17 billion the 40%
minority interest in BT Cellnet held by Securicor.
&Together with AT&T, we acquired a 30% stake in
Japan Telecom, one of Japan's largest
telecommunications groups for about »1.2 billion
(Yen 220 billion). Through a holding company structure,
BT has an economic interest of 20%. The deal was
¢nalised in September 1999. Japan Telecom serves all
types of residential and business customers and
operates in the international, long-distance, data,
internet and local markets in Japan. It also has
signi¢cant interests in digital mobile services.
&Again with AT&T, we made two strategic moves in the
Canadian telecommunications market. In August 1999,
we acquired indirect equity stakes in Rogers Cantel
Mobile Communications, one of Canada's leading mobile
operators and AT&T Canada. The total cost of these
acquisitions was about »660 million.
&In March 2000, under a public o¡er, we acquired control
of the Republic of Ireland's Esat Telecom Group for
approximately »1.5 billion. Esat operates a ¢xed-line
network in Ireland and has a 49.5% interest in mobile
Please see cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements on page 116.