BT 2005 Annual Report Download - page 14

&We continued to develop our capability as a supplier of
network facilities management. For example, we are
providing maintenance support to the physical field
and core switching elements of O2’s 3G network.
&As at 31 March 2005, our wholesale line rental product
had over one million end users, with revenues up
£51 million in the 2005 financial year.
&We have also enhanced our data connectivity portfolio
with the launch of a range of Ethernet (LAN) products
and higher bandwidth circuits. This has enabled us to
grow revenues from the provision of infrastructure to
other network providers.
&Product launches in the 2005 financial year included
Wholesale Extension Service – a high-speed, point-to-
point data circuit providing a secure link between a
third party customer site and a communication
provider’s networks – and BT Enterprise Ethernet – a
low bandwidth variant of the MegaStream Ethernet
product, offering many of the characteristics of a
traditional private circuit, but with the added benefit of
low-cost Ethernet interface.
Drive for cost leadership
We remain focused on financial discipline and our cost
efficiency programmes achieved savings of around £400
million in the year. This has enabled us to invest in
growing our new wave activities. We aim to deliver at
least £300 million to £400 million of savings in each of
the next three years.
We aim to deliver this by focusing on the cost of
failure, complexity and duplication and by working
smarter. For example, at 31 March 2005 we had 6.2
million on-line relationships with customers through
bt.com and almost two million customers receiving e-bills.
We continue to benchmark ourselves against the best in
the industry and set targets accordingly.
Keep a relentless focus on improving customer
satisfaction
Reducing customer dissatisfaction by 25% a year over
three years, on a compound annual basis, to the 2005
financial year was a key target in our drive to deliver the
highest levels of customer satisfaction. In the 2005
financial year, for the third year in a row, all lines of
business reduced customer dissatisfaction levels. This
result is based on quantitative customer research
conducted by independent external agencies and
represents a group-wide reduction of 23% on a compound
annual basis over the past three years.
The quality of service we provide to our customers is
key to improving customer satisfaction. Much of our
training and development activity remains focused on
removing any barriers to the delivery of excellent
customer service and a high-quality customer experience.
Our core people engagement initiative is the my customer
programme, which aims to enable all BT people to deliver
great customer service through teamwork. Over 3,000
issues have been identified and resolved. More than
4,000 people are members of teams tasked with making
further improvements as part of the 2005 my customer
Challenge Cup.
Transform our network for the twenty-first century
Our UK network today
BT has the most comprehensive communications network
in the UK, with 684 local and 135 trunk processor units,
more than 121 million kilometres of copper wire and more
than seven million kilometres of optical fibre, and we have
the most extensive IP backbone network in the UK. The
network services we provide include Frame Relay, ATM
(asynchronous transfer mode) and IPVPN.
Our global reach
BT has one of the broadest IP-enabled networks in Europe
and our network-based services extend to and across
North and South America and the Asia Pacific region, and
are delivered locally through interconnect and supply
agreements with regional carriers.
As at 31 March 2005, our flagship MPLS product
provided coverage and support to 72 countries from over
1,000 points of presence. MPLS revenues grew by 48%
during the 2005 financial year.
Global customer service is provided via service and
network management centres around the world, 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
Transforming our networks, systems and services for
the twenty-first century
Our 21CN programme will lead to the simplification of
BT’s complex multiple networks, making it easier for us,
and other operators who interconnect with BT’s network,
to deliver compelling converged services.
The 21CN programme has three broad goals:
&to enhance the service experience, flexibility and value
we provide to all our customers;
&to accelerate the delivery of innovative new products
and services to market; and
&to reduce costs radically.
Technical trials began in the 2005 financial year. For
example, we launched a voice transformation trial,
moving voice traffic from the traditional PSTN (public
switched telecommunications network) onto an IP
network.
We made significant progress towards completing the
detailed technical and architectural designs to support the
implementation of 21CN.
In April 2005, we announced the preferred suppliers
that we expect will help to build and implement the
21CN. This was the culmination of two years of
discussions and negotiations with over 300 potential
technology suppliers and is one of the largest
procurement programmes ever undertaken in the
communications industry. The eight preferred suppliers
chosen are: Alcatel, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu,
Huawei, Lucent and Siemens. We expect to conclude
contractual discussions with these preferred suppliers in
summer 2005.
A programme of industry consultation – Consult21 –
was launched in the 2005 financial year to promote a
shared understanding with industry of the 21CN vision
and the progress we are making, giving our wholesale
customers an opportunity to input and influence its
development.
Motivate our people and live the BT values
Our customers have a right to expect that we will
understand their needs and live our brand values. This
presents the 102,100 people employed by BT at 31 March
2005 with opportunities to develop innovative solutions,
generate new business, drive efficiencies, and experience
personal growth.
Operating and financial review BT Group plc Annual Report and Form 20-F 2005 13