BT's new global vision has special focus on India

NEW DELHI: India figures prominently in communication major British Telecom’s global vision of the future. The company’s global vision, which primarily centres around cutting costs and looking for growth in new places, states: BT Global Services aims to trim £400m in annual costs and more than double revenues from India, the US, Japan and China by ’08-09 as it moves to extend its dominance in the international corporate services market.

This growth will be driven by an increase in investment and personnel in those countries. Currently, BT’s revenues are largely driven by its operations in the UK and Western Europe.

BT chief executive Andy Green said in a statement: “BT Global Services is thriving... We have very ambitious plans and BT’s brand is fast becoming as familiar to businessmen in New York, Tokyo, Mumbai and Shanghai as it is in Europe.”

BT’s India plans are likely to centre around the launch of its international long distance (ILD) operations here. The company had applied for an ILD license to the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) in February, ’06, and had proposed an initial investment of $2m in the venture.

Sources in the department of telecommunications (DoT) said that the license may be delayed on account of BT (along with six other companies) facing a DoT probe for “illegally providing services in India without a license resulting in loss to the exchequer.” BT did not respond to a detailed email sent by ET on its India plans and on the DoT probe it faces.

As per its application, BT plans to do a lot more than mere ILD operations in India. These include VPN, telecom related consultancy services such as network and internet based communication solutions, representing clients and acting as their agents for synchronising all their telecom services globally and within India, to assist companies setting up BPOs and KPOs, including providing infrastructure facilities, support services and products, in addition to offering IT services, both including hardware and software.