A little like oom really from my point of view - I believe they are the favoured company within their sector and despite the markets - Oftel and the G3 nonsense they will climb back. They pay a divi and this wioll be seen to be increasingly important in the days to come. They have new management and are looking to enhance shareholder value .....

I hold and swing trade a few and not adverse to intraday trading them.

ains


BT in web-based investor relations drive

London, February 7 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

BT is launching a web-based scheme which it hopes will improve communications with its retail shareholders and help cut costs.


Dubbed 'ShareholderPlus', the system allows investors to sign up and receive BT communications - such as reports, news releases, mandates and, subject to a change in the law, electronic tax vouchers - by email, rather than by post.

BT said this will help it achieve cost savings - by not having to print and despatch reports - and pointed out that it is also good for the environment.

Furthermore, it has negotiated a number of deals with companies such as Virgin Wines, Apollo Travel, RSA and National Car Rental, to market the service and said it will add new offers in the future if it proves to be a success.

BT claims to be one of the first FTSE100 companies to launch such a programme, though it is likely that more will follow.

www.btplc.com/shareholderplus

BT seeks services role
By Martin Courtney, IT Week [28-04-2003]
The carrier aims to lead multi-supplier outsourcing and services contracts for corporates




BT Global Services has said it can cut the cost of corporate network operations by up to 50 percent for firms that sign up to its outsourcing deals.

"It takes a leap of faith but it is not completely stupid to think that we can run the network [for firms]," said Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail. He stressed that BT would use the skills of multiple partners, such as Accenture, Computacenter, Cisco and Nortel, to deliver many services.

The carrier is currently working with IT consultancy Accenture to manage a contract for retailer Sainsbury's, delivering an entire new network, including WAN and LAN infrastructure, as well as desktop PC management, across the company's 400 UK stores, providing services such as virtual private network (VPN) links, data storage, email and IP telephony.

Richard Holway of analyst firm Ovum Holway said that BT's strategy of sub-contracting parts of each deal makes sense. This approach could deliver savings to some companies - but not all.

"Multisourcing [in this way] is much easier, because the customer can change one of the components rather than being blackmailed for the whole of the contract," Holway commented, adding that outsourcing is currently a growth area in an otherwise depressed IT industry.

BT itself will focus on delivering WAN links, though it is not clear whether the carrier's existing frame relay and ATM-based infrastructure is suited to the task.

"We are moving from frame relay and private virtual circuits to IP-based networks, focusing on replacement with MPLS connections and getting peer-to-peer communications between offices," said Andy Green, chief executive of BT Global Services.

BT Midband to cost 35 a month
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 28/04/2003 at 11:14 GMT


BT's "midband" service - a 128k Net access product based on ISDN and aimed at people who can't get broadband - is to cost significantly more and do even less than the telco's entry-level ADSL service.

When details of BT Midband were first raised in November last year it was suggested that the service would cost around 25-30 a month - the same(ish) as existing BT's ADSL services.

But documents seen by The Register reveal that BT Midband is to cost 35 a month and limit users to up to 150 hours online a month.

The service goes live on June 1. BT is expected to make a formal announcement about BT Midband later this week.

BT Midband is based on the telco's Home Highway ISDN service and should be available to around 97 per cent of the UK population.

Ordinarily, BT Midband chugs along at speeds of up to 64k. However, when users need to download a large file, for example, it automatically ramps up to 128k.

But - and it's a big but - using the service at the quicker speed eats up users' allotted 150 hours online more quickly and means customers get less time on the Net.

So, in normal usage punters will get somewhere between 75 and 150 hours a month for their 35. Anyone exceeding this cap will be charged on a pay-as-you-go basis although unused hours can be carried over from month to month.

According to the monster telco, BT Midband is "an alternative flat rate (fixed monthly fee), high-speed Internet package" and is "not intended to be an 'always on' service".

The service has a two-hour session limit although punters will be able to sign on again immediately after they've been disconnected.

BT denies the service is a "poor substitute" for broadband insisting that it is a "significant improvement on standard dial-up connections" and will "meet the needs of a great many of our customers".

Earlier hopes that the service might be linked with an always-on email service have also been dashed due to "technical challenges along the way".

Sector is virtually flat today despite overall market gains





Mon 28 April 2003 11:30AM BST

BT targets smaller companies with new outsourcing service
Size does matter...



BT is to target companies with a minimum turnover of 50m with a new outsourcing service, a shift in its strategy which until now saw it focus on larger organisations with a turnover of more than 100m.


BT said today that it is now working with such customers on a "strategic and tactical level" to design, implement and manage their entire ICT (information and communications) infrastructure.



Craig Rowland, managing director of BT Business, said in a statement: "The cost and logistics of outsourcing an operation have until now been prohibitive for many firms, even though they are competing against ones which do have greater economies of scale. By making our outsourcing expertise more widely available, we will be able to help many firms use communications to make better use of their IT and thus operate more efficiently."


Charges are based on the level of involvement from BT, but the company said that there is no requirement for a minimum spend. Customers can opt for anything from basic network management to full service delivery including the transfer of people and assets.


The service will be provided in conjunction with BT's partners, including Cisco, Dell and Oracle.

14:12 Monday 28th April 2003
Graeme Wearden


Despite an Oftel investigation looming large over the horizon, BT isn't backing down over its plans to reduce the cost of its wholesale ADSL products
BT is adamant that it will cuts the cost of its wholesale broadband products this week, despite an Oftel investigation into the legality of the move.

The telco announced earlier this month that the prices of its wholesale business ADSL packages will fall by over 50 percent, in addition to a smaller reduction in the cost of its consumer ADSL product.



These cuts are scheduled to come into place on 1 May. They have been thrown into some confusion, though, by Oftel's investigation. Several of BT's rivals have complained that they are anticompetitive because they are not being applied to certain network products used by large operators with their own backbone networks.

It is understood that this investigation could reach a conclusion within days, but BT is pressing on with the cuts regardless.

"We've announced the cuts, we told Oftel about them beforehand, and we're definitely going ahead with them," a BT spokesman told ZDNet UK News on Monday. He added that BT had supplied Oftel with significant amounts of information about the cuts, but had not yet received any official word about the investigation.

Oftel can take up to three months to conduct an investigation, but it is rumoured that a decision might be taken before the end of this week.

An Oftel spokeswoman confirmed that an investigation into the price cuts was underway, following complaints from Thus, Energis, and Tiscali.

"Really, it is for BT to ensure that any price cuts or new products are compliant with its licence," explained the Oftel spokeswoman.

The complaint is based on the fact that BT has only cut the price of its IPStream range of products -- which BT Wholesale sells to ISPs -- and not its Datastream service, which large operators with their own backbone networks use to take advantage of BT's ADSL connections to the home.

Thus, Energis, and Tiscali claimed that this move breaks the terms of BT's licence by creating a margin squeeze, under which it could sell wholesale broadband at unfairly better terms than its rivals.

oftel broadband thingy out - no surprises

LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC and Kingston Communications PLC will continue to have to provide operators with wholesale broadband access under the new EC communications directives, according to telecommunications watchdog, Oftel.
Oftel comments are included in its market review of the wholesale broadband market which has been published as part of its work to implement the new EC Directives on electronic communications that come into force on July 25.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said today: "Oftel's review of the wholesale broadband market has found that BT and Kingston in the Hull area still have significant power in this market.

"Oftel proposes to continue under the new EC communications directives with a number of obligations on BT and Kingston to ensure other operators can compete with them to provide broadband services."

Measures to promote competition include requiring BT and Kingston to provide access to their broadband networks on reasonable request, not to discriminate against other operators, and provide accounting separation between their wholesale and retail broadband services.

Edmonds said, "These measures will support the continued growth in broadband take up by ensuring that consumers have access to a wide range of broadband services at some of the cheapest prices in Europe."

newsdesk@afxnews.com

H2 on the 22/05



weighed down by some cautious comments on the European wireline telecoms sector from Morgan Stanley, dealers said. According to the US broker, European fixed-line revenues are expected to decline in the first quarter of 2003 due to substitution and the weak economic backdrop. Morgan Stanley advised clients to avoid BT, as it believes the former monopoly operator will show poor revenue growth and flat EBITDA for the full year to the end of March. BT's long-term EPS growth rate stands at less than 1 pct, said the broker, which believes BT will be hard pressed to increase its dividend payments over the longer term. "The company is not the cash cow that many think," said Morgan Stanley, which reiterated its 'underperform' and 165 pence price target on BT. An actuarial pension review -- expected to accompany the full-year figures -- will provide further downside risk to the share price, warned the broker. Also weighing on the BT share price was a report in this morning's Daily Telegraph alleging that the group will lift its self-imposed ban on major acquisitions amid fears that sales will fall into decline.

Royal Mail to outsource 1.5bn IT operations
By Mary Fagan
(Filed: 2003-04-27 00:01 )

Royal Mail is preparing to outsource its nationwide IT operations in a deal worth up to 1.5bn.

The company is expected this week to sign a 10-year agreement with a consortium including CSC, the American computer services group, and BT, the telecoms giant. The deal involves the transfer of 2,000 jobs out of the Royal Mail group.

The move is part of Royal Mail's drive to focus on its core operations and to slash operating costs. The group has already outsourced building operations and maintenance as well as employee health services.

Royal Mail's massive IT operations are among the biggest in the UK. They span the maintenance of Royal Mail's mainframe and desktop computers as well as automation of sorting offices and mail-tracking systems.

The operation is currently spread across a number of locations including London, Farnborough in Hampshire and Chesterfield in Derbyshire.

The latest deal is likely to cut Royal Mail's annual costs by many millions of pounds. The group is already set to reveal sharply reduced losses for last year when it announces its financial results at the end of May.

Under the leadership of Allan Leighton, the chairman, Royal Mail has embarked on a three-year recovery programme which will involve the loss of around 30,000 jobs.

The company will announce in May that it has completed a sweeping restructuring of its Parcelforce arm which will generate further savings in this financial year.

Royal Mail has also announced a programme of urban post office closures.

Easing off a little today with sector and the market. CPW are making a new offer on calls that save you a half penny on an hour long call Zzzzzzzzzzzzz



ains

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two more telcos run to Oftel over BT BB 'margin squeeze'
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 30/04/2003 at 11:56 GMT


Two more companies have lodged formal complaints against planned price cuts for one of BT's wholesale ADSL products.

Telecoms outfits mediaWays.uk Ltd and Your Communications have joined the chorus of complaints from Energis, Thus and Tiscali alleging that planned price cuts to BT's IPStream product will lead to a margin squeeze.

The price drop announced earlier this month only applies to BT's 'IPStream' service - the wholesale end-to-end service provided by BT Wholesale to the telco's retail operations and other service providers.

However, Energis, Thus, Tiscali (and now mediaWays.uk Ltd and Your Communications)have complained to Oftel claiming that BT has failed to pass on similar price cuts to its wholesale Datastream service - a product that allows other service providers to use their own networks to provide competitive broadband services.

A spokesman for Your Communications told The Register that the planned cut in price for the IPStream product was a "classic margin squeeze".

He welcomed any move by Oftel to postpone the proposed price cuts while the regulator completed its investigation into the matter. However, realistically, he doubted whether Oftel would do so.

Last week, industry insiders told The Register that Oftel was mulling the idea of blocking the price cut while it carried out a full investigation into complaints that the cost cut is "anti-competitive".

Related Stories
Oftel could block BT's ADSL price cut
Thus complains to Oftel over BT ADSL 'margin squeeze'
Tiscali blasts BT's 'anti-competitive' ADSL price cuts
BT confirms ADSL price cuts
BT to cut wholesale ADSL prices

Sector under pressure today



15:09 Thursday 1st May 2003
Graeme Wearden


BT's interim solution for those stranded by the broadband divide will cost as much as ADSL but only offer a fraction of the speed
Technical and pricing details of BT's Midband service were released on Thursday, and the reality is significantly different from the picture painted by the company last year.

The 128Kbps ISDN-based product will cost 35 per month, almost as much as BT's consumer broadband service once line rental is taken into account, but will only be a quarter of the speed of ADSL.



Midband will actually drop to 64Kbps when the service decides that this lower speed is all that is required, based on what applications are being run. It also drops to 64Kbps when a voice call is being made.

Users will also only get a limited amount of time online per month in return for their 35. They will be restricted to a total of 150 hours of surfing at 64Kbps, or 75 hours at 128Kbps, per month. Unused time can be carried over each month, up to a maximum of 50 hours at 64Kbps.

Unlike true broadband products, Midband will not be always-on. It also will not support always-on email access, despite the fact that Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, has previously said that it would.

Danon announced Midband at last November's e-summit, and billed it as the solution to Britain's high-speed digital divide.

As well as promising always-on email, Danon also said that Midband would be "cheaper, but not much cheaper" than BT Broadband, BT's no-frills ADSL broadband product which costs 27 per month.

BT has now said that because Midband's 35 price tag includes line rental, which normally costs 9.50 per month, the service is effectively 1.50 cheaper than BT Broadband, for which people must also pay for a standard phone line.

Where Midband does shine is in its coverage. ADSL is only available to around two-thirds of homes, but Midband will be available to 97 percent of the population, according to BT.

BT, which is aiming to reach 90 percent coverage for ADSL, says Midband is an interim solution for people who want faster Internet access but whose local exchange isn't yet ADSL enabled.

Some of the telco's rivals, though, are scathing about the product, with one source yesterday slamming it as "Noband", and drawing a disparaging comparison between BT and "Comical Ali", the former Iraqi Information Minister.

Midband orders can be placed with BT from Thursday, and it will be rolled out from 1 June.

Sounds OK to me - as a shareholder


LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC has come under fire after it emerged that several hundred Indian software developers are being employed in the UK but are being paid in India at greatly reduced rates compared to UK workers, reported the Times newspaper.
The news comes amid growing union resentment over plans to open two new call centres in India.

The engineers are employed by Mahindra BT, an Indian software company in which BT owns a 43 pct stake.

"Some observers claim that the software developers could be earning just a quarter of the rate in Britain," said the paper, citing union officials. tf/slm/

Richard Wray
Tuesday May 6, 2003
The Guardian

Advertisements are popping up all over the country for the new range of telephone directory inquiry services which will replace the 192 number when it
is phased out in August.
Marketing by new entrants looking to challenge BT's dominance of the 300m-a-year 192 market seems to be working with more and more consumers aware of the new six digit 118 numbers. But some callers, especially mobile phone users, who have tried the new numbers before the 192 switch-off, are likely to get a nasty surprise in their next bill, according to industry sources.

The price of the new services varies depending on whether the call is made on a landline or a mobile phone. On some mobile networks a two-minute call to a 118 number could cost as much as 2.

William Ostrom, director of communications at one of the new directory inquiry companies, Infonxx, admits there is a "bomb" waiting to go off in consumers' pockets especially because at least one of the operators, Conduit, has made a lot in its ads of the boast that it charges half the price of BT.

"There is a potential shock going to go off in people's mobile phones when they get their itemised bills and realise that calling other 118 numbers is expensive, particularly Conduit's because people think it is half the price of BT."

A one minute call to Conduit's 118888 number does cost about half the price of a similar call to BT's 118500 number, provided it is made using a BT phone. On a mobile phone the same call can cost as much as 65p - the same as a call to BT's 118500.

A spokeswoman for Orange said the mobile phone networks need to recoup their costs. "The charges vary according to the cost charged by the supplier of the directory inquiries service. With over 84 new companies and over 300 numbers applied for from Oftel, we have adopted a pricing structure which allows us to recover the costs of supplying access to our customers," she said.

But others in the directory inquiry industry believe the mobile phone companies are profiteering and at the very least consumers will be confused at a time when the new numbers are just being accepted.

Conduit, an Irish call centre specialist which already operates inquiry services in other European countries, is probably the highest-profile new entrant. "I do not want to put numbers on it but we are 50% ahead of where we thought we would be," said chief executive Liam Young.

Mike Holliday-Williams, commercial director of One.Tel, says that up to a quarter of his existing customers are already using the company's 118111 number. But BT's chief executive of directory inquiries, Paul Elliott, maintains that "the vast majority of people are still dialling 192".

BT is still getting over a million 192 calls a day and, while advertising by operators, including BT itself, has helped, most callers will not register the change until the 192 number is switched off, he reckons.

As a result, there is a fierce battle going on between BT and the new entrants over exactly what message callers to BT's 192 number will hear when the service is cut off after the August bank holiday.

BT's position is simple: "We want BT callers who call 192 on BT phones to be told how they can get hold of BT directory inquiries. We want it to say that 192 is no longer available and the new number for BT directory inquiries is 118500. We are then happy to advise that other numbers are available."

That is unacceptable to BT's rivals and as a result the telecoms regulator, Oftel, has been dragged in to deal with the situation. "We are absolutely adamant that Oftel ensure there is fair competition when the old number is withdrawn," says Mr Young.

must admit I could never understand what they were saying - anyway. Has to be good for BT shareholders



IAIN DEYBUSINESS CORRESPONDENT - scotsman


UP TO 10,000 jobs might be lost in Scotlands call centres over the next five years as banks and insurers continue to ship jobs to India, according to the latest research.

Following a fact-finding mission to Bangalore, white-collar trade union Amicus has warned that Indias cheap but highly-educated workforce will continue to lure ever more back-office jobs from Scotland.

Further pressures to cut costs and continued improvements in technology will spark a fresh jobs exodus, the union has claimed, similar to that seen in Scotlands electronics industry during the past three years.

Evidence from the study, incorporating work done by academics in two UK universities, will be heard at a conference in Edinburgh today.

Roger Lyons, joint general secretary of Amicus, told The Scotsman: "10,000 jobs will pour out of Scotland over the next five years unless we take action immediately. We have seen the destruction of Scotlands traditional industries over the past 20 years and financial services have replaced metal bashing.

"We have to plan now to meet the reality that many companies are re-locating to India to cut costs and protect share dividends".

He added: "Industry, politicians and trade unions have now got to sit down and ask what it is that Scotland does best and plan to ensure that Scotland positions itself high enough up the industry food chain to protect its future."

Scotland is home to about 200 call centres, employing about 40,000 staff. In Glasgow alone, the industry accounts for 16,000 jobs.

Insurance giants Aviva and Prudential have recently announced plans to open call centres in India. Financial giants HSBC, Citigroup, GE and JP Morgan have already set up Indian operations.

Lloyds TSB also said it has "dipped its toe in the water," running its new government-backed Universal Bank from a centre in India with a staff of about 200. And telecoms giant BT recently sparked controversy by revealing its intention to open call centres in New Delhi and Bangalore this year.

Alongside an analysis of the impact Indias call centres willhave on the UK industry, the group has investigated working practices there to ensure that international labour standards are being met. The final report is expected next month.

Despite the fact that many administrative and call centre workers in India have two university degrees, the researchers found that labour costs are on average 40 per cent cheaper than they are in the UK.

Amicus said the governments 1 per cent cap on the administration charges levied by life and pensions companies is forcing these businesses to find new ways to cut costs.

The union also claims that "there is no evidence to date that corporate social responsibility is high on the agenda for organisations outsourcing or relocating to low-cost economies".

BT workers in Glasgow have also staged strikes in protest at the telecom companys plans to open call centres in New Delhi and Bangalore later this year.

Management consultant Accenture has previously predicted that as many as 70,000 UK insurance jobs will be outsourced to India by 2010.

Scottish Financial Enterprise chief executive Amanda Harvie said "there is no evidence" that Scottish-based financial services companies are relocating their call centre jobs.

She added: "Many financial services call centre jobs require a high level of skill to explain often complex issues, and thats where Scotland comes into its own."

A spokesman for CBI Scotland said: "There is increasing global competition for call centre jobs and what we have to do is ensure that we are higher up the value chain."

BT urges action on rural broadband bbc news


Getting broadband into schools is a priority
BT has called on the UK Government to kick-start rural broadband initiatives.

BT's Director for Public Sector Broadband, Patricia Jones, said it was no doing enough to get fast net services to those on the wrong side of the digital divide.

"Frankly government efforts are too slow," she said. "I challenge it to get 20 regional initiatives up and running in the next year."

In a debate in parliament last week, E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms acknowledged that the government needed to do more to improve broadband coverage.

If public sector organisations had broadband, then these connections could also be used by local residents he said.

Broadband chief

But talks with BT have revealed cultural differences about the best way to get broadband to councils and other local groups, said Ms Jones.

It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications

Stephen Timms, E-commerce Minister
"The government has disciplines, that while laudable, take a very long time to execute," she said.

"The pace has to be stepped up if the government is to get the UK to the top of the European league tables," she added.

The government has been criticised by MPs for not doing enough to provide broadband to the third of the UK which still does not have access to the technology.

As part of the drive to promote broadband, the government has named a civil servant at the Department of Trade and Industry as its director of broadband.

Stephen Speed will be responsible for managing official broadband policy, including benchmarking the UK with other nations and ensuring that schools and GP surgeries get the cheapest possible access to broadband.

2006 deadline

Some progress has been made on getting schools and surgeries wired

Broadband in schools may be the be all and end all for Stephen Timms but for Charles Clarke, getting kit in schools is the be all and end all,

DTI spokeswoman
According to the Department of Health, 1,397 of the 8,000 GP surgeries signed up to NHS Net have been upgraded since January and the rest will get broadband by 2004.

Around 40% of schools have broadband connections.

The government is committed to a 2006 deadline for all schools, GP surgeries and courts to be connected to fast net services.

To push it forward at ministerial level, Stephen Timms himself will head up a steering group with representatives from each of the major government departments to make sure that they are all doing their bit to ensure the widest roll out of broadband.

BT says that it has given the government a roadmap for how to get broadband coverage up to 90% of the population.

But the government says it is juggling a lot of different balls.

"Obviously broadband has to be fitted in with other priorities," said a spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry.

"Broadband in schools may be the be all and end all for Stephen Timms but for Charles Clarke, getting kit in schools is the be all and end all," she said.

Increasingly MPs have been taking an interest in fast net access, especially those who live in broadband black spots.

Mr Timms reassured parliament that the UK was finding its broadband feet after a shaky start.

"It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications," he admitted.

But the government is hopeful that this month the UK will pass the two million connections mark, just nine months after the millionth connection was celebrated.

sector just positive


By David Kuo (TMFDragon)
May 6, 2003


The deregulation of the telecom industry in the eighties breathed life into a sleepy and unattractive sector. It also brought to the attention of the private investor the tremendous potential of investing in businesses that were far from lethargic and showed the capabilities of being able to grow through innovation.

Much was expected of the telecom operators, and also from those businesses that were associated with the sector, like equipment suppliers. To be honest, far too much was expected of these companies and valuations ran way ahead of reality. Billions of pounds were thrown at the industry creating a telecom bubble and valuations that could never be sustained.

Today, I see the telecom sector as two separate, though somewhat interconnected, industries. The fixed line sector comprises those businesses that operate through cables and wires that allow voice and data to be transmitted through fixed line networks. The wireless sector does much the same job but predominantly through the airwaves.

BT Group (LSE: BT.A)(NYSE: BTY) is still the largest fixed line telecom operator in the UK. Traditional voice services at BT are likely to come under threat because of cheaper offerings from alternative telecom providers. This could put revenues from its conventional voice services under more pressure. Nevertheless, the main driver for growth at the company is likely to be broadband services. In January, BT said it was signing up in excess of 25,000 broadband customers a week.

The company, which is on a valuation of 21 times historical earnings, does not appear to be that cheap at first sight. Its high level of debt, which stood at 12.9b at the end of December, makes it even more unattractive. However, profits are expected to have risen in the year ended March 2003, putting the company on about 12 times earnings for this period. The shares currently offer a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Tomorrows Times

BT defuses India pay row


The UK is losing call centre jobs to India
Telecoms giant BT has denied reports that Indian workers subcontracted to work for the company in the UK are paid less than their British counterparts.

The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that software engineers employed by Mahindra BT, a BT joint venture based in Pune, Western India, could be working in the UK for as little as a quarter of the usual wage.

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said it was investigating the reports.

"BT's got to be really careful with its reputation," a CWU spokesman said.

Trade union groups have previously clashed with BT over its decision to open new call centres in India rather than the UK.

Rebuttal

But BT said the Mahindra BT employees' full remuneration package was in line with the wages usually paid for software maintenance work in Britain.

"The total package of the Indian sub-contractors working on BT projects is comparable to those of their UK counterparts and well above the UK national wage. They do not lose out," the company said in a statement.

"We are extremely proud of our employment record and of our commitment to corporate social responsibility."

BT added that Mahindra BT subcontractors are typically employed to carry out basic software maintenance, freeing up BT engineers to work on "leading edge developments."

Farmed out

Many of the usual restrictions on Indian nationals working in the UK have been eased for Mahindra BT employees thanks to an inter-company transfer arrangement, the Times reported.

Outsourcing customer service and IT maintenance work to Indian subcontractors is a growing trend in the UK, with many companies attracted by India's low labour costs and highly skilled workforce.

Last year, HSBC chief executive Sir Keith Whitson caused an outcry by suggesting that the bank's Indian call centre staff performed better than their British counterparts.

ann on premium rate voice deal worth 70 million

someone somewhere always seems to be whinging .... guess they must be doing something right :-)


MP critical of 'unfair competition' from BT
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 06/05/2003 at 15:19 GMT


Labour MP Brian White has branded a recent wholesale price cut from BT as "unfair competition" and called on the telecoms regulator to react more quickly to complaints.

He also blamed "BT's dominant position in the wholesale market" as being repsosible for current problems concerning the roll out of broadband across the UK.

The comments from the MP for Milton Keynes North East followed formal complaints to Oftel from five telcos (Energis, mediaWays.uk Ltd, Thus, Tiscali and Your Communications) concerning price cuts for BT's wholesale IPStream ADSL product - the wholesale end-to-end service provided by BT Wholesale to the telco's retail operations and other service providers.

The telcos argue that BT has failed to pass on similar price cuts to its wholesale Datastream service - a product that allows other service providers to use their own networks to provide competitive broadband services.

Oftel is currently investigating the complaints.

Said Mr White: "BT is reducing the price of IPStream... but it is not reducing the price of DataStream, which network suppliers use. Telecoms companies that use their own network and therefore use the DataStream product, however, pay a higher price. To me, that is unfair competition.

"The matter has been raised with Oftel, but the procedures by which it is being resolved are far too slow. Again, one of the issues that was raised when we discussed Ofcom was the speed with which such regulatory issues are resolved. Those kinds of barriers cause real problems. When Ofcom comes into existence, we need to ensure that its speed of reaction is far faster than Oftel's," he said.

Earlier in the debate, the e-minister, Stephen Timms, talked up the progress being made in broadband: "It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications" before adding that the UK is now making "rapid progress".

He also announced that "career civil servant", Stephen Speed, has been named as Director of Broadband. As part of the newly created position, Mr Speed is to take overall responsibility for coordinating the implementation of the Government's broadband strategy.

BT DIALS AMERICAN BOOST SKY NEWS

BT plans to more than double its network size in North America after scrapping its joint venture with big US rival AT&T.

It is to add 14 new network "nodes", or connection points, to take the total to 23 in cities across the US, Canada and Mexico.


Its aims of beefing up its presence in North America is part of ongoing expansion across the world.

It has also signed up two Asian telecoms partners, Japan Telecom and Singapore's Starhub.

BT had considered buying up a US network operator or setting up North American partnerships, like it did in Asia.

Problems

But it eventually decided that an acquisition would cause network integration problems and take too long to complete.

BT expects to spend about 4.7m expanding the North American network - some 65% of the 2,000 multinational companies it targets have a presence there.

The work will take place over the next three years in cities such as Toronto, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Detroit, Washington DC and Mexico City.




Last Updated: 09:19 UK, Thursday May 08, 2003