British Rail Telecommunications Ltd’s first week as an independent entity has got off to an inauspicious start. On the first working day after the separation, its own phone system supplying the services it plans to sell to third parties – was down over most of North and central London. The exchanges affected included the Euston office of managing director John Drake. Meanwhile, and more importantly, analysts are suggesting that the impending break-up of British Rail is causing delays that could damage the telecommunications arm’s chances of a successful privatisation. The company is prohibited from offering telecommunications services to the public while it is still state-owned. Its privatisation is due to take place later this year, but – according to Reuter – is being held up by the confusion over the privatisation of British Rail itself. And with other competitors such as cable television companies snapping up potential customers, investors are wary. The third national British telecommunications operator looks set to be Energis Ltd, owned by the 12 regional electricity companies of England and Wales, which will be supplying services to the UK’s 20 largest cities by the late summer. According to Reuter, efforts by previous Rail Telecommunications managing director Peter Borer to arrange a management buyout have also put off pot ential investors. And – surprise, surprise – the company counts the Tuesday after Easter as an official holiday, so no-one was available to comment bar a few hard-pressed temps. Despite the operational problems, the company has a vast array of assets to tempt a partner: 11,875 miles of cables laid, of which 2,500 miles are fibre optic, 150 miles of microwave links, and 254 ex changes serving 63,000 lines. It also has the advantage that most of its infrastructure is in the right places – the railway passes through all sizable concentrations of population, and 90% of busi-nesses are within two miles of a station or halt. It starts life with 3,100 employees, and has split into four divisions – networks, maintenance and installation, telecommunications engineering and telephone equipment provision. It hopes to start offering engineering services even before it is free to start seeking telecommunications business.
