BTwatch News
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Financial & Performance
Openreach hits halfway mark in UK fibre mega-project
15 million premises now sit within the Openreach FTTP footprint, on track for 30 million by 2030, but a productivity boost is needed if it is to hit its 2026 interim target…
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People
BT tech veterans reunite at M&S
BT’s Chief Architect Josie Smith has started a new role as CTO for food and fashion retailer Marks & Spencer.
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Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: moving beyond the hype with 5G SA and GenAI
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including 5G SA R&D advancements with Nokia and Qualcomm; an honest assessment of the challenges inherent with GenAI adoption at scale; and a potential asset offload in Europe…
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Operations
GenAI at BT: data hygiene critical to moving from ideas to implementation
Chief Data & AI Officer Deepika Adusumilli highlights data quality and cultural change as the two primary challenges to AI adoption at scale, with AWS’s Q and the ongoing Google Cloud migration supporting the effort.
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Network & Infrastructure
BT takes carrier aggregation one step further in 5G SA launch prep
Nokia and Qualcomm partnered again for latest 5CC carrier aggregation trial, laying foundations for 5G SA launch later this year.
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Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: less tech, more outcomes for BT’s consumer and procurement teams
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including calls from Consumer’s Kevin Lee to ‘forget the jargon’ and Chief Procurement Officer Cyril Pourrat on the centrality of AI to the future of buying. Infrastructure sharing in focus at Openreach; network executives exit; and Rivus folds after BT takes business elsewhere…
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Suppliers & SCM
Battle of the bots: BT and Vodafone procurement chiefs forecast AI-driven buying
BT’s Cyril Pourrat and Vodafone’s Ninian Wilson discuss future of procurement, with AI at the core and negotiation bots taking on each other as tech matures. Read more…
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People
BT Peoplewatch: network architects, private cloud gurus, convergence charge
Several high-profile and strategic changes at BT Group, including a new Chief Architect; a fresh face to tackle the consumer convergence sticking point; and an executive exit in India as the Group talks up its presence in the subcontinent…
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Financial & Performance
Fleet manager Rivus folds and sells up after losing BT contract
Rivus, BT’s former fleet services provider and 2019 divestment, brings in administrators before selling up to new largest customer.
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Public Affairs
Forget the jargon and give customers what they really want — BT digital chief
DTW24 – Ignite: Kevin Lee, Chief Digital Officer at BT Consumer, shared how the operator’s API-first, platform approach will help it keep up with fast-changing demands from consumers.
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Network & Infrastructure
BT activates ‘cell sleep’ tech to cut mobile energy use
BT has implemented a power-saving software feature in EE 4G sites that it hopes will save 4.5 million Kilowatt hours per year.
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Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: Kirkby earns Slim’s approval; Mehta ratchets transformation agenda
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including Slim-affiliated investment and Kirkby priorities for asset monetisation. At DTW24, BT execs promoting transformation progress and shift to ‘platform thinking’ — also developments in innovation productivity, autonomous networks, quantum internet, ServiceNow integration, more…
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Operations
BT Digital lights ‘beacons’ in search for new ways of working to aid transformation
DTW24 – Ignite: Change is not easy for large telcos, but BT Group’s Digital has been exploring ways to accelerate product delivery through “lean-agile” teams.
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Network & Infrastructure
BT’s autonomous journey starts with decommissioning legacy products
DTW24 – Ignite: The industry’s dream of autonomous networks is some way off, but for BT’s R&D chief Gabriela Styf Sjöman, the first steps are to cut legacy products and adopt cloud-native principles.
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People
Campbell McClean steps up as BT’s new Chief Architect
Well-travelled Campbell McClean of DT, Airtel, Telefónica, and Orange fame takes Chief Architect posting at BT Group.
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Strategy & Change
Allera, Mehta team up to bridge BT’s digital divide, drive ‘platform-thinking’
DTW24 – Ignite: Chief Digital & Innovation Officer Harmeen Mehta joined on-stage by Consumer CEO Marc Allera to hype transformation advances as Digital overhaul impacts EE platform-building.
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Network & Infrastructure
UK government shutters Huawei oversight committee despite continued presence
Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology states that examination of potential risks within Huawei’s equipment by a committee of NCSC and industry cybersecurity experts has ended, and been replaced with “stronger departmental governance arrangements”.
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M&A
BT outlines investment fears as Vodafone−Three merger tips spectrum scales
Operator overwhelmingly backs CMA’s decision to launch in-depth merger investigation and calls for closer attention to be paid to the unprecedented spectrum asymmetry that could follow. Ericsson, altnets, and trade unions also weigh in…
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M&A
América Móvil’s Slim buys into Kirkby’s vision for BT
Interests linked to the Mexican telecoms billionaire have acquired a 3.2% stake in BT, with BT remaining neutral on the development.
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Products & Services
New startup seeks to bring UK telcos into adtech
Industry veteran hopes to drum up UK operator support for a new aggregator platform to bring together ad sales and performance measurement powered by telco data.