TELECOM / FIXED-MOBILE CONVERGENCE

BT casts off the network, moves into converged business services

DON SAMBANDARAKSA

BT, the company formerly known as British Telecom, has cast off its networks and evolved into a company that focuses on convergence solutions for business.

In an exclusive interview, Nathan Bell, BT general manager for product and operations in Asia-Pacific, explained how BT's current catchphrase has evolved from "It's Good to Talk" to "Bringing It All Together." Today it has a greater focus on business solutions to business communication problems - not just between people but even between business software applications spread around the globe.

For instance, O2, the former mobile arm of BT spun off into a separate entity, is no longer relevant to the company.

"With BT Fusion, what we've recognised is that you don't need to own the mobile network any more. What's important is the integration, whether it's customer or corporate, and give them multiple modes of access," he said.

What this means is that in certain markets, BT's Fusion phone will work over Wi-Fi where a recognised network is available, and then switch to 3G when outside.

For large corporate customers, the voice traffic is actually being carried over their corporate worldwide data networks, rather than being hit with expensive IDD and roaming charges.

BT today offers this service not just with its former mobile division O2, but with former arch-rival Vodafone, ACT, Sprint, Singtel and China Mobile, among others.

"You don't need to own the [network] asset, the real skill is being able to integrate it into a solution," he said.

Already BT is looking at the next step. "We have already had voice/data convergence, as well as voice/data/video convergence. Now it is voice/data/video and application convergence, being able to deliver your enterprise applications seamlessly anywhere you want," he said.

The recent Taiwan earthquake also provided some useful experiences for the company. Because BT does not own any of its own networks in the region, it partners with everyone. Hence, when the undersea fibre optic cables snapped, its 21CN network did not suffer any noticeable downtime. In comparison, Bell claimed that Singtel customers were heavily affected as Singtel did own cable and when their cable snapped, it took much longer to negotiate bandwidth from their competitors.

The same is true for Thailand. Bell explained that Thailand has two main cable systems connecting the country, the SEA-ME-WE and TVH networks. While other companies have invested heavily in one or the other, BT uses both.

If anything, the earthquake has helped BT's consulting arm meet customer needs on business continuity and disaster recovery, part of BT's move into areas such as compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.

One recent large account was with Credit Suisse, which was a global deal worth more than one billion euros. In the deal, BT got to do all of the bank's network security compliance, network consolidation and IT governance.

Asked if this sounded similar to where IBM was five years ago, Bell agreed that BT was headed that way.

However, Bell said the next big thing that will rock the industry will be Mobile WiMAX - and BT's business model puts it in a unique position to take advantage of this opportunity.

"WiMAX will be the killer app and killer technology. Look at how many companies have spent billions on 3G licenses and then along comes Mr WiMax. Soon, if I want to use my WiMax phone in Singapore, great. It will bypass these 3G networks and be a real disruptor in the market," he said.

BT expects that rather than telcos, WiMax will be driven by individual ISPs across the region.

BT is working in a research and development laboratory in Malaysia on how to do seamless transition between 3G, WiMAX and Wi-Fi. This will allow large corporations to be able to contact their staff with one number, anywhere in the world, and give them transparent control of their telecommunications costs.

Bell said that the picture on the direction of the telecommunications industry will become clearer later this year when, after a long consultation process, Singapore's Infocomm Development Agency (IDA) will finally announce the technologies they will adopt for the Singapore IN2015 IT master plan.

"Singapore is great because it's a microcosm. You can try all sorts of things here. The island-wide free Wi-Fi was a good gesture, but it will be with IN2015 where things start getting serious," he said.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007