TIDMBT.A
RNS Number : 2996X
BT Group PLC
05 May 2016
May 5, 2016
BT TO INVEST BILLIONS MORE ON FIBRE, 4G AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Ambition for ultrafast broadband to pass 12m premises by
2020
Ambition to pass 2m of those homes and businesses with FTTP
4G and superfast broadband coverage to both pass 95 per cent
New initiatives across the company to improve customer
service
BT today announced a further wave of investment to help the UK
remain the leading digital nation in the G20(1) . Its Openreach and
EE businesses will between them spend around six billion pounds in
capital expenditure over the next three years in the first phase of
a plan to extend superfast broadband and 4G coverage beyond 95 per
cent of the country by 2020.
Ultrafast broadband will be deployed to a minimum of ten million
homes and businesses in the same period, subject to regulatory
support, with an ambition to reach twelve million. There will be an
increased focus on Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology within
this plan with the aim being to reach two million premises with the
technology, mainly in new housing developments, high streets and
business parks.
Customer service will be another area of focus with the company
revealing a series of new initiatives to better meet the evolving
needs of its customers.
BT Group Chief Executive Gavin Patterson said: "The UK is a
digital leader today and it is vital that it remains one in the
future. That is why we are announcing a further six billion pounds
of investment in our UK networks, subject to regulatory
certainty.
"Networks require money and a lot of it. Virgin and BT have both
pledged to invest and we will now see if others follow our lead.
Infrastructure competition is good for the UK and so is the current
Openreach model whereby others can piggyback on our investment
should they want to.
"G.fast is an important technology that will enable us to deploy
ultrafast broadband at pace and to as many homes as possible.
Customers want their broadband to be affordable as well as fast and
we will be able to do that using G.fast. FTTP will also play a
bigger role going forward and I believe it is particularly well
suited to those businesses who may need speeds of up to 1Gbps. My
ambition is to roll it out to two million premises and our trials
give me confidence we will.
"Customer expectations are increasing all the time and we need
to work hard to meet those new demands. That is why contact centre
work is being returned to the UK and why Openreach is aiming to
halve the number of missed appointments within a year. Customers
want higher standards of service and we are determined to provide
them with just that."
(1) By share of GDP
Better Service
The internet has become increasingly central to people's lives
and BT today said it would respond with further investment in
customer service across the company. A range of new initiatives
were unveiled today with BT Consumer set to reduce the standard
time to fix line faults by 24 hours as well as pledging to handle
90 per cent of its customers' calls in the UK by March 2017. These
new commitments follow the recent announcement that EE will handle
100 per cent of its customers' calls in the UK by the end of this
year.
Openreach also gave new service commitments with CEO Clive
Selley telling his communication provider customers it will deliver
'better service, broader coverage and faster speeds'. The business
will hire 1,000 new engineers this year and provide further multi
skill training for engineers so there is more flexibility in the
work they can do for customers.
Openreach is also aiming to halve missed appointments(1) to two
and a half per cent within a year with an ambition to reduce them
even further after that. A case management service team is also
being established to step in and resolve problems for customers who
have experienced two or more missed or unsuccessful appointments.
The provision of dedicated business lines known as Ethernet will
also increase by 20 per cent year on year.
Broader Coverage
The UK is the leading digital economy in the G20(2) with the
highest superfast broadband coverage and take up in the EU 'big
five'(3) . More than ninety per cent of UK premises can access
superfast broadband across all fixed networks(4) and that is set to
rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. Meanwhile, more than 15
million people are using 4G via the EE network, the highest number
for any operator in Europe.
BT's next wave of investment will help Openreach take UK
superfast broadband coverage beyond 95 per cent(5) and the business
also stands ready to address slow speeds in the final few per cent
of the country should there be regulatory support for its plans.
Long Reach VDSL has been identified as a potential solution and
Openreach is set to run technical trials in the coming months.
EE meanwhile has said that it will extend its geographic 4G
footprint from around 60 per cent today to 95 per cent by 2020.
These parallel plans will ensure the UK is one of the best served
countries in the world when it comes to superfast fixed and mobile
services.
(1) Attributable to itself rather than to CPs or customers.
(2) By share of GDP
(3) UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy
(4) Thinkbroadband data May 2016
(5) Across all networks
Faster Speeds
Ultrafast broadband will be a major area of focus for Openreach
which today said it has an ambition to reach twelve million
premises with ultrafast services by 2020, two million more than
previously announced. The business has the largest FTTP network in
the UK and it has been conducting further trials of this technology
to prove it can reduce the cost of deployment, improve the customer
experience and make it quicker to install. The trials are going
well and the business believes it may be able to pass two million
premises with this technology by 2020 helping to take overall
ultrafast availability to twelve million.
FTTP is likely to be deployed to hundreds of thousands of SMEs
in high streets and business parks - should there be demand -
providing them with a service that offers speeds of up to 1Gbps
without the need for a dedicated business grade line. The updated
service will be developed by Openreach in the coming months taking
the views of its communication provider customers into account.
FTTP will also be deployed to consumers in new property
developments with Openreach announcing it would deploy the service
for free at sites where there are more than 100 homes. It may also
play a role in serving apartment blocks and some rural areas where
it may provide the most appropriate solution.
Whilst some consumers will receive their ultrafast broadband via
FTTP, most will receive it via G.fast, a technology which
transforms the speeds customers can receive over a mix of fibre and
copper. Customers taking part in the trials are currently receiving
speeds of up to 300Mbps and these will reach up to 500Mbps in the
next few years as the technology is deployed. Laboratory tests of
XG-FAST, a future variant, have also shown that speeds of more than
5Gbps are possible over short copper lines demonstrating that
copper has a role to play for many years yet.
For further information
Enquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group
Newsroom on its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK
dial + 44 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at our
web site. You can also subscribe to receive all BT announcements
here and you can follow us on Twitter here.
About BT
BT's purpose is to use the power of communications to make a
better world. It is one of the world's leading providers of
communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180
countries. Its principal activities include the provision of
networked IT services globally; local, national and international
telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at
work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and
services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services. With
effect from 1 April 2016, the group has been reorganised and the
customer-facing lines of business are now: Global Services,
Business and Public Sector, Consumer, EE, Wholesale and Ventures,
and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 2016, BT Group's reported revenue
was GBP19,042m with reported profit before taxation of
GBP3,029m.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets
of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in
London and New York.
For more information, visit www.btplc.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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