The change will have huge implications for business users and remove most of the complications involved in setting up secure virtual private networks to enable remote workers to access company networks. It also opens the way for a flood of new services such as TV over IP that will challenge satellite and cable providers.
The UK incumbent plans to spend 2bn pounds ($3.66bn) a year over the next five years on capital expenditure to make the change possible and aims to migrate its entire customer base over to the new network by 2008. This spending spree will be a huge boon to hard-pressed telecoms equipment suppliers. BT said that by giving visibility to its plans at an early stage, it hopes suppliers will be able to cooperate to come up equipment tailored to its needs.
After selling off its mobile operation to ease its debts, BT has struggled for growth with landline revenue in decline. Not only will the switch to IP cut costs by an estimated 1bn pounds ($1.8bn) a year by cutting the duplication of a PSTN network for voice and an IP network for data, but it will also open the way for a new generation of services.
BT calls the changes its 21st network (21CN) program and BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds said it would deliver a converged multimedia world where customers could access any communications service from any device, anywhere, and at broadband speed.
Though it aims to make broadband available from exchanges serving 99.6% of the population by 2005, the new network will enable a service it terms broadband dialtone in five years, that will enable customers to switch to broadband themselves, without any changes necessary at the exchange.
BT also plans trials to test the technical and commercial issues associated with deploying fiber-optic cable on local access networks, though this will be restricted to providing access to new building projects.
BT’s commitment to an IP-only network is an indication of the huge change underway in international communications markets. AT&T announced yesterday that it is conducting trials in Asia and Europe for a global VoIP telework service aimed at multinational companies that it plans to introduce in 2005.
The service is designed to allow a business to provide its remote employees with a suite of advanced calling features using broadband connections. Eventually, the service will afford remote workers secure, high-speed connections directly to their corporate offices.
The trials are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK. It builds on the AT&T CallVantageSM Service, which is currently being rolled out across the US.
