name | BT Group plc |
---|---|
logo | |
type | Public limited company |
traded as | |
predecessor | Electric Telegraph Company Post Office Telecommunications |
foundation | City of London, United Kingdom () |
founder | William CookeJohn Ricardo |
location | BT CentreLondon, United Kingdom |
area served | Worldwide |
key people | Sir Michael RakeIan Livingston |
industry | Telecommunications |
products | Telecommunications Broadband internet access Internet Protocol television |
revenue | £20,911 million (2010) |
operating income | £2,600 million (2010) |
net income | £1,029 million (2010) |
num employees | 101,700 (average 2010) |
homepage | btplc.com |
intl | yes }} |
BT Group plc (, ) is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of telecoms services to corporate and government customers worldwide. Its BT Retail division is a leading supplier of telephony, broadband and subscription television services in the UK, with over 18 million customers.
Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Converting the Post Office into a nationalised industry, as opposed to a governmental department, was first discussed in 1932 by Lord Wolmer. His ideas were recorded in the book Post Office Reform. In 1932, the Bridgeman Committee was formed, "to enquire and report as to whether any changes to the constitution, status or system of organisation of the Post Office would be in the public interest". The Committee's report was rejected. In 1961, the subject received further attention, the proposals were ignored. The Post Office remained a department of central government, with the Postmaster General sitting in Cabinet as a Secretary of State.
In March 1965, Tony Benn, the acting Postmaster General, wrote to the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, proposing that studies be undertaken aimed at converting the Post Office into a nationalised industry. A party was established to look into the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal, and its findings were found to be favourable enough for the Government to re-establish a Steering Group on the Organisation of the Post Office. After some initial deliberations that the business should be divided into five divisions; Post, Telecommunications, Savings, Giro and National Data Processing Services, it was decided that there should be two: Post and Telecommunications. These events finally resulted in the introduction of the Post Office Act, 1969.
On 1 October 1969, under the Post Office Act, 1969, the Post Office ceased to be a government department and it became established as a public corporation. The Act gave the Post Office the exclusive privilege of operating telecommunications systems with listed powers to authorise others to run such systems. Effectively, the General Post Office retained its telecommunications monopoly.
The British Telecommunications Act, 1981 transferred the responsibility for telecommunications services from the Post Office, creating two separate corporations, Post Office. At this time the first steps were taken to introduce competition into the UK telecommunications industry. In particular, the Act empowered the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, as well as British Telecom, to license other operators to run public telecommunications systems. Additionally, a framework was established which enabled the Secretary of State to set standards with the British Standards Institution (BSI) for apparatus supplied to the public by third parties, and had the effect of requiring British Telecom to connect approved apparatus to its systems.
The Secretary of State made use of these new powers and began the process of opening up to and the apparatus supply market, where a phased programme of liberalisation was started in 1981. In 1982, a licence was granted to Cable & Wireless to run a public telecommunications network through its subsidiary, Mercury Communications.
The new legislation had to enable British Telecom to become more responsive to competition in the UK and to expand its operations globally. Commercial freedom granted to British Telecom allowed it to enter into new joint ventures and, if it so decided, to engage in the manufacture of its own apparatus.
The company's transfer into the private sector continued in December 1991 when the Government sold around half its remaining holding of 47.6 per cent of shares, reducing its stake to 21.8 per cent. Substantially all the government's remaining shares were sold in a third flotation in July 1993, raising £5 billion for the Treasury and introducing 750,000 new shareholders to the company.
The 1984 Act also abolished British Telecom’s exclusive privilege of running telecommunications systems and established a framework to safeguard the workings of competition. This meant that British Telecom finally lost its monopoly in running telecommunications systems, which it had technically retained under the 1981 Act despite the Secretary of State's licensing powers. It now required a licence in the same way as any other telecommunications operator. The principal licence granted to British Telecom laid down strict and extensive conditions affecting the range of its activities, including those of manufacture and supply of apparatus.
In December 2000, following modifications to BT’s licence in April 2000, BT offered local loop unbundling (LLU) to other telecommunications operators, enabling them to use BT’s copper local loops (the connection between the customer’s premises and the exchange) to connect directly with their customers. By the end of August 2005, 105,055 lines had been unbundled.
In 1999, BT purchased Securicor's shares in Cellnet for £3.15 billion, Securicor originally invested £4 million in Cellnet in 1983, the company was later rebranded as BT Cellnet, and it became a part of BT Wireless, a group of subsidiary companies owned by BT.
In October 2001, at a general meeting held in Birmingham, 4.297 billion British Telecommunications shares voted in favour of the demerger, and 0.67 million voted against. In , BT Cellnet demerged from BT and was relaunched on as O2.
In February 2004, the company was subject to rumours of take-over bids from KPN, the Dutch telecommunications group though these never came to fruition. In 2005 rumours of KPN (and several other international network operators) bidding for the various branches of O2 persisted, though following the company's posting of better than expected results so soon after demerging some speculation shifted to O2 itself making bids for other businesses.
In March 2005, the company underwent a corporate reorganization, that saw mmO2 plc being de-listed from the London Stock Exchange and acquired (via a share swap) by a new company, O2 plc, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in its place. The summer of 2005 saw the company under threat of crippling strike action by Communication Workers Union members following disputes over pay and remuneration, though unrelated to earlier job losses as part of the reorganization. This was resolved without strikes taking place after several months of negotiations between the company and the trade union.
The Communications Act, 2003 which came into force on 25 July 2003 introduced a new industry regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), to replace the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel). It also introduced a new regulatory framework. The licensing regime was replaced by a general authorisation for companies to provide telecommunications services subject to general conditions of entitlement and, in some instances, specific conditions. Under a specific condition BT retained its universal service obligation (USO) for the UK, excluding the Hull area. The USO included connecting consumers to the fixed telephone network, schemes for consumers with special social needs, and the provision of call box services.
In the summer of 2004, BT launched Consult 21, an industry consultation for BT’s 21st century network (21CN) programme. 21CN is a next generation network transformation, due for completion by end 2010. Using internet protocol technology, 21CN will replace the existing networks and communications from any device such as mobile phone, PC, PDA or home phone, to any other device.
Openreach provides provision and repair in the "last mile" of copper wire. Formed from 25,000 engineers previously employed by BT's Retail and Wholesale divisions. It is designed to ensure that other communications providers (CPs) have exactly the same operational conditions as parts of the BT group. Opened for business on 11 January 2006, it reports directly into the BT chief executive.
In February 2005, BT acquired El Segundo, California-based telecoms giant Infonet (now re-branded BT Infonet), giving BT access to new geographies.
It also acquired the second largest telecoms operator in the Italian business market, Albacom.
In April 2005, it bought Radianz from Reuters (now rebranded as BT Radianz), which expanded BT's coverage, provided BT with more buying power in certain countries.
In October 2006 BT confirmed that it would be investing 75% of its total capital spending, put at £10 billion over five years, in its new Internet Protocol (IP) based 21st century network (21CN). Annual savings of £1 billion per annum are expected when the transition to the new network is complete in 2010, with over 50% of its customers transferred by 2008. That month the first customers on to 21CN was successfully tested at Adastral Park in Suffolk.
In January 2007, BT acquired Sheffield based ISP, PlusNet plc, adding an additional 200,000 customers. BT stated that PlusNet will continue to operate separately out of its Sheffield head-office.
On 1 February 2007 BT announced agreed terms to acquire International Network Services Inc. (“INS”), an international provider of IT consultancy and software. This increases BT presence in North America enhancing BT's consulting capabilities.
On 20 February 2007 Sir Michael Rake, then chairman of accountancy firm KPMG International, would succeed Sir Christopher Bland, who stepped down in September of that year.
On 20 April 2007 BT acquired Comsat International which provides network services to the South American corporate market.
On 1 October 2007 BT purchased Chesterfield based Lynx Technology which has been around since 1973.
BT acquired Wire One Communications in June 2008 and folded the company into BT Conferencing, its existing conferencing unit, as a new video business unit
On 28 July 2008, BT acquired Ribbit, of Mountain View, California, "Silicon Valley's First Phone Company." Ribbit provides Adobe Flash/Flex APIs, allowing web developers to incorporate telephony features into their Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.
On 1 April 2009 BT Engage IT is created from the unclean merger of two previous BT acquisitions Lynx Technology and Basilica. Apart from the name change not much else changes in operations for another 12 months.
On 14 May 2009 BT said it was cutting up to 15,000 jobs in the coming year after it announced its results for the year to 31 March 2009. In July 2009 BT offered workers a long holiday for an up front sum of 25% of their annual wage or a one-off payment of £1000 if they agree to go part time.
On 5 October 2009 Martin Balaam replaces Nick Gorringe as managing director of struggling division BT Engage IT.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.
BT runs the telephone exchanges, trunk network and local loop connections for the vast majority of British fixed-line telephones. Currently BT is responsible for approximately 28 million telephone lines in the UK. Apart from Kingston Communications, which serves Kingston upon Hull, BT is the only UK telecoms operator to have a Universal Service Obligation (USO) which means it must provide a fixed telephone line to any address in the UK. It is also obliged to provide public call boxes.
BT's businesses are operated under special government regulation by the British telecoms regulator Ofcom (formerly Oftel). BT has been found to have Significant Market Power in some markets following Market Reviews by Ofcom. In these markets, BT is required to comply with additional obligations such as meeting reasonable requests to supply services and not to discriminate.
As well as continuing to provide service in those traditional areas in which BT has an obligation to provide services or is closely regulated, BT has expanded into more profitable products and services where there is less regulation. These are principally, broadband internet service and bespoke solutions in telecommunications and information technology.
BT Group is organised into the following business divisions:
From 1 July 2007 two additional divisions were put in place:-
! Year ended | ! Turnover (£m) | ! Profit/(loss) before tax (£m) | ! Net profit/(loss) (£m) | earnings per share>eps (p) |
31 March 2010 | 20,911 | 1,007 | 1,029 | 13.3 |
31 March 2009 | 21,390 | (134) | (81) | 3.2 |
31 March 2008 | 20,704 | 1,976 | 1,738 | 21.5 |
31 March 2007 | 20,223 | 2,484 | 2,852 | 34.4 |
31 March 2006 | 19,514 | 2,633 | 1,644 | 19.5 |
31 March 2005 | 18,429 | 2,693 | 1,539 | 18.1 |
31 March 2004 | 18,519 | 1,945 | 1,414 | 16.4 |
31 March 2003 | 18,727 | 3,157 | 2,702 | 31.4 |
31 March 2002 | 18,447 | 1,461 | 1,008 | 12.1 |
31 March 2001 | 17,141 | (1,031) | (1,875) | (25.8) |
31 March 2000 | 18,715 | 2,942 | 2,055 | 31.7 |
31 March 1999 | 16,953 | 4,295 | 2,983 | 46.3 |
31 March 1998 | 15,640 | 3,214 | 1,702 | 26.6 |
31 March 1997 | 14,935 | 3,203 | 2,077 | 32.8 |
31 March 1996 | 14,446 | 3,019 | 1,986 | 31.6 |
31 March 1995 | 13,893 | 2,662 | 1,731 | 27.8 |
31 March 1994 | 13,675 | 2,756 | 1,767 | 28.5 |
31 March 1993 | 13,242 | 1,972 | 1,220 | 19.8 |
31 March 1992 | 13,337 | 3,073 | 2,044 | 33.2 |
In recent years, the strategy of BT plc has been to reduce its dependence on traditional voice revenues and instead obtain an increasing portion of its turnover from so-called New Wave revenues. At the heart of this strategy is BT Global Services, which has won many significant contracts in the commercial and public sectors, in part through its portrayal as a "momentum story".
BT’s pension obligation is derived from two pension plans: BTPS, the company’s defined-benefit pension scheme which was closed in 2001, and the BT Retirement Saving Scheme (BTRSS), which was set up to replace the BTPS and is a defined-contribution retirement plan.
BT has made it clear that it has an ambitious plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Its strategy includes steps to reduce the company's carbon footprint as well as those of customers, suppliers and employees. BT has actually pledged to achieve an 80% reduction by the year 2016, which will require further efficiency improvements.
Category:Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Category:Internet service providers of the United Kingdom Category:Companies established in 1981 Category:Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:British Royal Warrant holders Category:Organisations based in the City of London
br:British Telecom da:BT Group de:British Telecom es:BT Group fr:BT Group it:BT Group nl:BT Group ja:BTグループ no:British Telecom pl:British Telecom pt:BT Group ro:BT Group ru:BT Group simple:BT Group sv:BT Group zh:英國電信This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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