It would appear that as well as a new BT Group Chief Executive for BT from
September (when Gavin Patterson takes over from Ian Livingston) that a rearrangement of BT Retail is to take place,
with consumer and business functions splitting into two separate businesses, BT
Consumer and BT Business respectively.
This split is apparently designed to help BT Retail compete in the fast
moving world of consumer broadband and it may also make it easier for the
business world to deal with the business products as there will be more scope
to produce products that meet the varied needs from the sole trader through to
the firms with 200+ employees, while avoiding the rough and tumble of the
consumer broadband deals.
“I am thrilled to be given this opportunity. BT is in a four way tussle with
Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk for broadband customers and we are at the start of an
exciting journey with BT Sport. There has never been a better time to be a
consumer and we plan to up the ante in the coming years.”John Petter, MD Consumer
It seems that this split will probably not appear in the financial figures
until the start of the next financial year, but it could make for an
interesting head to head fight with Sky, as the figures for consumer broadband
once the business broadband lines are removed will shrink at a time when Sky is
aggressively looking to grow.
Looking at this from a sideways point of view, it may also be that by
splitting the business arm further away from the consumer arena will make the
various voucher deals on their way as part of the super connected cities plan
easier to promote and manage.
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Plenty of notice there for you to split the BT Broadband forum into BT Consumer and BT Business then.
And listings and other bits too
I’ve yet to hear of a single person who left one ISP for BT.
you haven’t looked very far – lots of them switching to BT Infinity.
“I’ve yet to hear of a single person who left one ISP for BT. ”
hahahahah
Ok, so how much is this stunt going to cost? I can not remember how many times BTInternet became part of retail, split from retail, etc… What are they at? KEEP TO WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT… Making decisions clearly is not it…
This is just an internal BT thing, has nothing to do with e.g. providing better fibre broadband. This is just another BT publicity stunt.
This is my point… Stop spending money on this crap and get back to providing service 😀
The two markets though are very different and it makes sense to split them, FTTC is more a consumer product
BT retail and wholesale should split from openreach, now that would be a bit of good news and when I say split i mean split, different company, different shareholders and different CEO.
Never going to happen, BT the pathetic company it is, have still got a monopoly
@zyborg47: I fully agree, have a completely independent national network infrastructure, and separate service providers.
@Bob_s2:Maybe you are not aware of the fact that BT sells broadband packages to businesses, too, see e.g. http://business.bt.com/packages/broadband-and-phone/, which includes FTTC for businesses. Makes perfect sense for many small to medium sized businesses.The same is true for FTTPoD (though the latter won’t be available for a long time to come, it is still being ‘trialed’)
“FTTC is more a consumer product ” Lots of businesses are opting for the business version of this so…. nope.
Why is it a publicity stunt?
Strange comments
“I’ve yet to hear of a single person who left one ISP for BT.”
I left BE (unlimited usage) on 14meg down/1meg up for BT Infinity on 46meg down/10meg up, unlimited usage for about £6/month more!
I just love how we was expecting to be informed of each migration to Infinity 😉
Yes of course there is some overlap between business and retail but FTTC is still mainly a consumer product. It may be as well that the consumer business may possibly handle the small one man businesses
Splitting the Business & Consumer arms from Openpeach by spinning off Openreach as a separate wholly owned BT company makes sense. THis would put it on the same basis as DABS
What has today’s announcement got to do with Openreach?
” It may be as well that the consumer business may possibly handle the small one man businesses”
Sorry Bob I’m not sure I can agree there I don’t think you understand its use. ADSL (the business variant) was used by many businesses and more than “one man” set-ups. FTTC business just takes that one step further. It isn’t a consumer product, its a product used by consumers and business, its not aimed at one of those but both.
Businesses can and do use FTTC as their primary connection, for bigger businesses they can and do use it as their back-up link to their primary connection just as they did with ADSL in the past.
Larger businesses often have a light connection (business ADSL or FTTC) as a backup should their primary connection go down.
why diff shareholders? openreach replacement should be not for profit.
The usual case would be existing shareholders surrender certificates for 2 new certificates one for each company at the valuation at point of offering. The problem being apportioning the debt and pension accountability between the units.
@ chrysalis. I have been saying this all along… Government gets rid of that awful train idea to make funds available. Then they take the infrastructure back from BT and builds out a fibre network everywhere. Once fibre to a property is available, the copper gets ripped out and sold for copper value to help pay for the whole thing. Now they lease those fibres back to the ISP’s who will provide you with your connection. This is the ONLY way there will be fair and impartial competition in the UK.
Take the money that is left and lower train fares… Job done.
And this way BT gets their wish of being a content provider, and do not need to worry about those pesky network issues…
All the infrastructure of BT or just that associated with Openreach?
The access infrastructure… basically the backbone into the exchanges, and from the exchanges to the homes and businesses. I am not sure what exactly is associated to openreach. What I do know is that openreach does not exist in Northern Ireland, or rather did not a year ago.
Openreach is currently exchange to customer.
The backbone into the exchange is not Openreach because it mimics what other ISPs have into the exchange. If you take that away from BT, then they are at a disadvantage compared to other ISPs as they have nothing going into exchanges. Talk Talk would have backbones entering 93% of exchanges and BT 0%.
Openreach don’t have any infrastructure they maintain it for BT. I would like to see anyone “take back” what was sold.
I’m amazed people think the government would do wonders with broadband, show me some good similar examples, take your time 🙂
Ok. I have been thinking about this all night. GMAN99 you are absolutely correct. That will be a very slippery slope. Kinda like the “porn” filters they are pushing on us. In the new network BT gets free access to the new network for 10 / 15 / 20 year to pay them back for their “investments”.
I am not suggesting that the government go into the broadband business. That would be a disaster. I am suggesting that the government “own” the network, and pay openreach (or another suitable party) to run it, maintain it, build it out providing a fair and equal playing field. They will wholesale the network to ALL the ISP’s. BTW… Virgin Media’s, and all the other networks that exists out there today gets swallowed into this also, for the same deal as BT… Free access is available only where they had a network swallowed into the new network.
And GMANN99 to your last question… There are no good examples, since this kind of project is a long term thing, and governments change in shorter time. Politicians will chuck their grans under a bus if it will get them elected… Australia may have been a good example, but what they are doing now is screwing the whole thing up…
And that’s the trouble vicdupreez , the “investments” , a lot of people think, arr nothing has changed, same poles, same copper etc etc. But the “network” looks nothing like it did when they bought it. I’m talking about the core, the backbone, the Ethernet PoP’s etc, none of that existed back then. This “free access” for even 20yrs wouldn’t come close to covering the investment’s they have made since it was purchased. Its a nice fantasy idea that many have had but I can’t see it happening.
Oh you can bet your last penny it would not happen… What would happen if someone, anyone with deep pockets turns around and says, it is time we fibre this entire rock, and sell access on a wholesale basis to ISP’s. How long do you think BT will last? Of course you will have your bitter enders, but if the wholesale price is correct, everyone will jump from the BT ship. Also will not happen… Anytime soon anyway… By Purchased I assume you mean when the government sold its shares in 1984, 1991 and 1993 right?
Yes sold as shares. If someone came along and created a new national fibre network it would be great, great competition. Sadly its unlikely, the closest we have is Virgin
No public funding via e.g. the BDUK should have been given to BT in the first place. Rather, public funding should have been tied up to a ROI condition, kind of a long-term loan. What vicdupreez suggests, pretty much sounds like what is being done in Australia with its NBN (well, at least while its current government lasts).
hehe. That is pretty much what I was suggesting yeah. Like I say though, It will never work in the UK (and will not work in Australia either) because politicians will sell their nan for a vote… Anything to get themselves elected… I fear that the NBN in Australia will be severely changed (read killed) if a new government is elected there. Sad, but hey… We keep voting for them…
Posted by GMAN99 6 days ago
“I’ve yet to hear of a single person who left one ISP for BT. ”
I returned to them thinking I was going back to the engine driver, ie paying more for a better service.
I have been without a landline telephone since 1000 hrs Wednesday 31st July, 2013 and a much reduced broadband speed and the fault site says they hope to fix it by 2100 August 7th. I am on my 6th day of waiting in for them to contact me.