Latest BT Insight – Page 13
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People
BT adds transformation expertise to board, seeks out ‘operational resilience’
Ex-Barclays finance chief Tushar Morzaria appointed to BT Board of Directors, with Chairman Adam Crozier lauding ‘corporate change’ specialism and adding further transformation expertise to the BT boardroom.
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Consumer (B2C)
EE’s £6m bricks-and-mortar retail investment brings more customers, better connections
EE’s newest Experience store opened in Bristol, with nine more to follow in the next year as part of £6m retail investment.
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M&A
Merged Vodafone−Three ‘incentivised and able’ to ‘frustrate’, ‘harm’ BT — CMA
Merger-critical Competition & Markets Authority investigation is damning on logic and impact of combination, dubious of benefits. Network-sharing joint venture MBNL is at heart of concerns and may become a focus for any forthcoming ‘remedies’. Read more…
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Analyst Reports
BTwatch Report #353 - April 2024
Key stories include: Watson calls for investor patients | Ireland sale back on the cards | Adastral Park prioritises Networks | Allera seeks relevance, resonance | BT redraws Local Business map
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Network & Infra
Openreach targets 30m full-fibre premises, nexfibre calls for altnet ramp-up
At Connected North in Manchester, Openreach optimism was juxtaposed by altnet consternation about the state of the UK fibre market.
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Network & Infra
Job done on Scottish rural 4G initiative
Scottish 4G Infill programme wraps up after seven years.
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Network & Infra
25G/50G slow-go: Openreach may hold out till 2030s on next-gen fibre tech
In depth report — two of the UK’s biggest fibre wholesalers have dampened expectations of imminent 25G and 50G PON upgrades, despite prep-work. Virgin Media O2-backed nexfibre sees no “imminent” case for commercial launch. Openreach also wants greater energy efficiency and to maximise older-gen GPON value extraction, with point-to-point eyed for enterprise. Read more…
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M&A
BT revives Ireland sale talks as Kirkby picks up where Jansen left off — report
BT said to be considering BT Ireland sale as new CEO Allison Kirkby attempts what Philip Jansen could not. A sale would extend the asset-light strategy taken on at BT Business…
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People
BT’s Howard Watson dedicates lifetime achievement award to Networks ‘obsession’
FutureNet World: BT Chief Security & Networks Officer Howard Watson thanks 7,300 BT Networks staff for contribution to BT prowess as he was named Technology Leader of the Year. Other award winners include Amdocs, Celfocus, Netcracker, Nokia, Huawei, Vodafone, more…
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Network & Infra
BT, Vodafone seek fast cash and stricter discipline as sector adjusts to new digital reality
FutureNet World: Vodafone’s Andrea Donà and BT’s Howard Watson issue a call for more cash, patient investors, and industry collaboration as network technologies evolve and a light emerges at the end of the investments tunnel. Watson heralds success of fixed, but wants the next mobile ‘G’ to be held back…
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Network & Infra
Major players in the frame as Project Gigabit mega-deals come into play
Altnets including Quickline, Wessex and Wildanet pick up BDUK contracts to reach rural homes, but the prospect of cross-regional deals for Openreach and VM O2 appears increasingly likely as another agreed deal is abandoned…
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Network & Infra
DSIT-funded masts go live as UK’s SRN plugs eco-credentials
The Shared Rural Network is gathering steam and tooting its horn as government cash finally begins to flow to remote 4G sites. SRN management are pushing an environmentally friendly purpose, and operators EE and VM O2 are vying to be seen as programme stars.
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B2B
BT evolves Local Business with more activity brought in-house
Changes afoot across BT’s SME IT services portfolio as some regional partners step up and others fall away. Pattern emerges of fewer partners holding expanded remits, and BT is not shying away from bringing some regions in-house “where we need to”…
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Public Affairs
Round 3: Phones 4u’s MNO collusion claims OK’d for appeal
EXCLUSIVE: Court of Appeal to reconsider initial judgment that cleared operators and then-parents. Questions may include whether more weight be given to findings that attempts were made to fix 4G pricing by O2 and Vodafone, that EE misled Ofcom, and that Ronan Dunne made an apparent admission of coordination between Telefónica and Vodafone. Deutsche Telekom and Orange still potentially on the hook as former EE owners, but extent of any direct impact still pending. Learn more…
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Partnerships & Alliances
BT bolsters cloud security with Zscaler deal
Zscaler doubles down on its BT relationship with ‘world‑first’ managed services partnership featuring its Zero Trust Exchange platform.
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Network & Infra
Blue Planet: Re-making telcos as platform heroes
Blue Planet is calling on operators to build new platforms that rise above the existing tangle of legacy technologies and unlock the revenue and innovation opportunities promised by a fully automated ‘no ops’ future.
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M&A
CMA concerned Vodafone-Three could access O2 and EE secrets
As expected, the UK merger is headed for tougher scrutiny in a longer investigation following an initial review by the Competition and Markets Authority.
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Products & Services
BT startup arm ties with Adyen on Tap to Pay app
BT offers more flexible payment option for its small business customers, but only on iPhones.
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Network & Infra
BT calls for more public funding to connect UK’s most remote homes
BT shares broadband policy wish list as UK government ponders intervention for 100,000 ultra-rural premises not covered by commercial or public-funded programmes.
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People
Ex-BT CEO Patterson takes chair of edtech company Kahoot
Gavin Patterson named Chair of new Board of Directors at recently privatised online learning platform company Kahoot.