BT 2005 Annual Report Download - page 12

view to launching higher-speed wholesale services in
the second half of 2005. In addition, we are trialling a
variant of ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line)
broadband, known as ADSL2+, which may support
speeds of more than 20Mbit/s.
&With effect from April 2005, we reduced the wholesale
cost to service providers of our BT IPStream and BT
DataStream ADSL products by an average of 8% in
areas of high demand.
&We also announced details of the next 500 exchanges
to be upgraded to provide SDSL (synchronous digital
subscriber line) services. SDSL offers the same rate
upstream and downstream and is particularly suitable
for the SME market. By April 2006, we aim to SDSL-
enable 1,300 exchanges, covering more than two
thirds of UK businesses.
&During the 2005 financial year, we redesigned and
reduced the price for our LLU (local loop unbundling)
product (see Regulation, competition and prices –
Local Loop Unbundling)byupto70% in a phased
series of price cuts which will, we believe, make it
easier for LLU operators to invest in broadband
infrastructure with confidence. As at 31 March 2005,
LLU operators were providing service to 40,000 lines
from more than 600 exchanges, many of which were
multi-operator sites.
Broadband for consumers
As at 31 March 2005, in the highly competitive retail
market, our share of consumer and business DSL
broadband connections in the UK was 36% (1.75 million
connections).
BT is the UK’s leading service provider of broadband,
offering a family of broadband packages designed to meet
the diverse needs of our customers. Key packages include
BT Broadband Basic and BT Broadband which offer rapid,
always-on internet access; BT Yahoo! Broadband which
also provides a fuller range of benefits, including multiple
email addresses, virus protection, personalised music,
parental controls, protection against unsolicited email and
evolving applications and content; and BT Communicator
with Yahoo! Messenger.
&We transformed our retail broadband offering, by
announcing the transfer of our customers to a new
super-fast standard, beginning in February 2005. Most
consumer and business customers will have their
broadband speed increased to up to 2Mbit/s – up to
four times faster than previous speeds – at no extra
cost. The introduction of 2Mbit/s as standard will
enable customers to get more from their broadband
link and paves the way for a range of new services.
&BT will also use broadband to make new services, such
as video on demand and interactive TV, available to
customers.
&In July 2004, we launched BT Communicator with
Yahoo! Messenger. This integrated software package,
downloadable from the internet, gives customers a
truly convergent, multi-media communications
experience, enabling them to manage all their home
communications – phone calls, emails, texts, instant
messaging and webcam – together in one place on
their PC.
Broadband for business customers
We believe that the introduction of 2Mbit/s ADSL
broadband as standard will help business customers
maximise the major opportunities offered by online
trading and teleworking.
BT Business Broadband remained the leading ISP for
SMEs in the UK. At the end of the 2005 financial year, we
had over 340,000 BT Business Broadband customers and
were adding 250 a day. More than half opt for such value-
added services as the Internet Security Pack and the
Internet Business Pack.
&In January 2005, we created an online payments
business by bringing together BT Click&Buy and our
online card payment service, BT Buynet, which
currently process almost 17 million transactions a year
between them. The new business will offer an
extensive range of payment solutions to the rapidly
growing online retail market.
&BT Business Broadband Voice, launched in November
2004, gives small businesses throughout the UK access
to VOIP (voice over IP) services and enables them to
use their broadband connections to reduce costs for
multiple business lines. On average, BT Broadband
Voice offers customers savings of more than 60%
compared with second line rental.
Create convergent mobility solutions
In a convergent world, individuals and businesses
increasingly need to connect and communicate whenever
and wherever they happen to be, using whatever devices
they choose.
Our aim is to offer all our customers the right
combination of the quality, reliability, cost advantages
and bandwidth associated with fixed-line communications,
and the convenience, personalisation and mobility
associated with mobile communications.
In the 2005 financial year, we launched BT Mobile as
an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) running over
the Vodafone network. Becoming an MVNO is
fundamental to building our mobility customer base,
driving the wireless broadband market and developing
and delivering compelling convergence propositions and
one converged customer experience.
Project Bluephone is a converged mobile service,
enabling customers to use a single device that can switch
seamlessly between fixed and mobile networks. This will
provide customers with the convenience of mobile
combined with the cost and quality advantages of a fixed-
line phone. We plan to launch Project Bluephone shortly.
We believe that a partnership strategy is fundamental
to our success and we are working hard through the
FMCA (Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance) to develop
open industry standards and through the WBA (Wireless
Broadband Alliance) to drive Wi-Fi (public wireless
broadband) hotspot proliferation, global roaming and user
satisfaction.
Revenue in the mobility market in the 2005 financial
year was £205 million, an increase of 107% on the 2004
financial year.
As at 31 March 2005, BT Mobile had over 372,000
business and consumer connections.
Mobility for consumers
In the consumer mobility market our strategy is to build a
foundation for the delivery of added-value, fixed/mobile
convergent solutions.
&In January 2005, we launched BT Mobile as an MVNO
with Vodafone in the consumer market. BT Mobile is
cost-effective for families, offering up to five additional
Operating and financial review BT Group plc Annual Report and Form 20-F 2005 11