BT 2011 Annual Report Download - page 15

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BUSINESS REVIEW OUR BUSINESS AND STRATEGY
Our future plans for becoming the ‘Brand for Business’ for UK SMEs
include:
•increasing the number of SME customers buying our services
•selling more IT services and mobility to our existing SME
customers
•offering bundles which combine fixed and mobile
communication and IT services.
BT Global Services – a global leader
BT Global Services is already a global leader in the provision of
managed networked IT services. Over the past year we have
focused on improving the performance of the business by
simplifying the portfolio, rationalising systems and networks,
industrialising the process of bid management and exploiting
standardisation and automation. We adopted an industry sector-
based structure to help focus on customer needs in four global
sectors: Banking & Financial Markets; Commerce; Consumer
Packaged Goods; and Government & Health. We also invested in
growth areas such as multi-protocol label switching (MPLS),
Ethernet, unified communications, security, customer relationship
management, mobility and cloud services. Last year we identified
the Asia Pacific region as a target for investment and we are
strengthening our ability to support new and existing customers
in this growing market.
During 2011 we made the following progress:
•we delivered operating cash flow of £119m, a year ahead
of target
•order intake was £7.3bn
•we invested to grow our presence in the Asia Pacific region
•we have been recognised as a leader, winning the award for
‘Best Global Operator’ at the World Communication Awards 2010.
Our future plans include:
•building on our strong market position in managed networked
IT services
•expanding further to serve our customers in fast-growing
economies
•developing our relationships with our target customers, and
improving their customer experience
•building and enhancing industry based solutions in key sectors
•making our operations more efficient
•generating around £200m of operating cash flow in 2012.
The wholesaler of choice
BT is committed to supplying CPs in the UK and overseas with vital
communications infrastructure and services. While we are already
the largest wholesaler in Europe, there are significant opportunities
for us to win new business. We aim to be the ‘wholesaler of choice’
in the UK, where we already have more than 1,000 CP customers,
provide fixed-line services to the five key mobile operators and
are the established partner for carriers. We also operate an
international wholesale business, where we serve customers in
over 170 countries.
During 2011 we made the following progress:
•our managed network services (MNS) revenue grew by 8%
•40% of BT Wholesale’s external revenue is now underpinned by
long-term contracts
•our second generation copper broadband service is available to
over 65% of UK premises
•we received the ‘Best Wholesale Carrier’ award at the World
Communication Awards 2010.
Our future plans for becoming the wholesaler of choice include:
•increasing the proportion of revenue under long-term contract
by selling new MNS contracts
•making investments in Wholesale Broadband Connect, our
second generation broadband service, which we plan to extend
to cover around 80% of UK premises by December 2011
•launching IP services that enable our CP customers to enter and
exploit new and emerging markets
•increasing capacity on our IP platforms to meet growing
customer demand
•continuing to evolve our next generation product portfolio for
the global wholesale market.
The best network provider
BT is the largest provider of fixed telephony lines in the UK and
through Openreach we manage the ‘last mile’ of the UK access
network. We offer access to this network to other CPs on an open
and equal basis.
It is our aim to improve network reliability, extend our Ethernet
footprint, continue our super-fast broadband roll-out and put in
place systems improvements and transformation programmes to
enhance our proposition, reduce our cost base and make it easier
for CPs to do business with us.
During 2011 we made the following progress:
•we rolled out our super-fast fibre-based broadband network to
reach over 4m UK premises
•we contributed to the growth of the broadband market in the UK
by the provision of 7.6m external unbundled lines, up 15%
•we extended our footprint to over 1,000 fibre Ethernet nodes,
providing the largest Ethernet network in the UK
•we commenced testing a 1Gbps service over fibre-to-the-
premises.
Our £2.5bn investment in super-fast fibre-based broadband will
make the UK one of the best connected countries in the world.
Our super-fast fibre roll-out plans are ambitious and we are
working to pass two thirds of UK premises by the end of 2015. To
deliver this we are installing 30,000 cabinets, connecting 200,000
distribution points, enabling over 1,000 exchanges and laying over
50,000km of fibre. We have developed and refined our systems and
processes to enable us to deliver fibre faster and we are upgrading
more than 250 cabinets and enabling on average around 80,000
premises each week to access fibre.
We also aim to bring fibre to homes and businesses in the ‘final
third’ of the UK, given the right investment and regulatory
conditions and access to Government funds.
Super-fast broadband roll-out plan
1.5M PREMISES
PASSED BY
SUMMER 2010
ADSL
ENABLED FOR
C. 99% OF ALL
PREMISES
5M PREMISES
PASSED BY
SPRING 2011
10M
PREMISES
PASSED BY
2012
2/3 PREMISES
PASSED BY THE
END OF 2015
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