Who are BT?
The world of telecommunications stretches back a long, long way, and BT are quite simply the world’s oldest telecommunications company. Over the years, they’ve grown and advanced to become one of the leading providers of communications solutions (phones, internet, and TV, to you and me) in the world, with operations in 170 countries.
In fact, the BT Group is comprised of a whole group of different businesses, each one specialising in different areas.
- BT Retail – This is who you, the customer, deal with. BT Retail provides business and residential customer with solutions to all their communication needs. For the consumer market, they’re instrumental in bringing innovative solutions to the customer (solutions like BT Total Broadband, BT Mobile and BT Vision), under the leadership of CEO Ian Livingston.
- BT Wholesale – This arm of the business runs all of BT’s networks, and provides network services to other communication companies. So, if you have a landline service through TalkTalk, for example, they’ll get their network service from BT Wholesale. This arm of the business falls under the jurisdiction of CEO Sally Davis.
- BT Global Services – BT Global Services provides services and solutions for the big, multi-site and multi-national organisations, including corporate and government customers worldwide, and wholesale customers outside the UK. BT Global Services is headed up by CEO Francois Barrault.
- BT Design – BT Design are responsible for the IT design, and delivery, of all the crucial network systems and technologies needed to run BT, to provide the customer with services and new technology, all under the guiding hand of CEO Al-Noor Ramji.
- BT Operate – Once any technology has been dreamt up by BT Design, BT Operate is the business that implements it. Any hardware, software or networks that provide BT’s services to Retail, Wholesale and Global Services customers are put in place by BT Operate, under the guidance of CEO Roel Louwhoff.
- Openreach – Openreach is an entirely separate business from all the others and fulfils a very different role. Their role is to ensure customers get equal access to different service providers’ network products, be it landlines, or high-speed internet, and to ensure that the marketplace is competitive, to give customers the best value. Heading up this business is CEO Steve Robertson.
The BT Group has a really distinct vision, about where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going. In their own words:
Our vision is to be dedicated to helping customers thrive in a changing world. The world we live in and the way we communicate are changing, and we believe in progress, growth and possibility. We want to help all our customers make their lives and businesses better with products and services that are tailored to their needs and easy to use.
This means getting ever closer to customers, understanding their lifestyles and their businesses, and establishing long-term relationships with them.
We're passionate about customers and are working to meet the needs they have today and innovating to meet the needs they will have tomorrow.
