BT looking at building ecosystem of partners

British Telecom is increasingly looking at building an ecosystem of partners in India to bridge the digital divide in the country.

Speaking at the Nasscom CEO Forum in Bangalore on Tuesday, Ben Verwaayen, chief executive, BT Group said: "Our knowledge and experience in the complex world of global networks and the company's existing position as a solutions' supplier to the corporate sector give us the confidence to aid the Indian scenario in bridging the digital divide."

"Time and distance is death in today's telecommunication sector and we should ensure that Indian corporations move to a network-centric world," he added.

The British major, which provides communications reach and ICT solutions to multi-site corporates with its partnership framework, is looking at enlarging its footprint through capital-efficient franchisee agreements and access partnerships. BT services customers through bilateral agreements with international long distance operators.

BT's India strategy is to roll out managed services and strengthen the network infrastructure.

"Investments in India will be in terms of network infrastructure and we provide market access into India through a unique network which links into BT's comprehensive global network via. both Europe and the US," Verwaayen added.

Stating that broadband is the way to move forward, he said: "New IP-based technologies and the rapid growth of the Internet have brought about the emergence of the digital networked economy. Many of our target customers are undergoing significant transformation in response to this and redesigning their business processes, their systems and their customer offers."

He added that BT continues to invest in the Asia Pacific region and has rolled out an expansive network which supports virtual private network (VPN), internet, voice, mobility and private line services. Three fully redundant nodes are located in Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai.

BT's main product offering in India is its IP leased lines, while it rebuilds a new managed services network with multi-protocol label switching capabilities.

BT will also roll out its voice network under the CRM proposition and its services include frame relay, voice, remote access and private line services to an array of companies from the IT, ITeS, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and banking sectors.