November 2006
Major initiatives usually start with simple thoughts. Over time, those simple thoughts get shared and discussed and become complex ideas. Complexity then begins to challenge those that had the simple thoughts in the first place. More often than not, the simple thought gets too difficult and is discarded.
BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) started life as a simple thought: BT would transform its business, eliminate cost and complexity and make life simpler and more flexible for all its customers. Whilst the programme has grown in complexity, the original simple thought still guides it. That, in large part, is what has driven the programme from concept to reality. In just over a month, we begin the exciting part — making it real for customers.
Paul Reynolds
Chief Executive
BT Wholesale
On Monday 16 October, the UK’s communications industry announced the launch of ‘switched-on’, a multi million pound public information campaign designed to inform UK consumers and single site small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about how they will get ‘switched-on’ to BT’s next generation network.
Overseeing the work of all of the Consult21 Working Groups is the Industry Steering Board: the joint BT/industry advisory body for the Consult21 programme. News21 spoke to the Board’s Co-Chair, Huw Saunders, the Group Regulatory Affairs and Technology Development Director of Kingston Communications, to get an insight into who’s on the Board — and what their role is.
Openreach isn’t the only innovation to result from BT’s agreement with Ofcom to ensure greater ‘equivalence’. One of the other challenges Ofcom posed BT was to discover a way to give Communication Providers (CP) the freedom to set up their own UK call server and so for the first time ever take total control over their customers’ outbound and inbound calls. This is the task that’s in the hands of the Voice Line Access (VLA) Working Group, chaired by Justin Orde of Spitfire Communications — as Industry Consultant Tom Saville, the Group’s ‘buddy’, explained.
With a countdown of less than a month to go before the first phase Pathfinder, News21 went for an update to Dave D’Arcy, Head of Customer Engagement — 21CN Customer Migration.
Learn more about the key issues and topics that are forming the basis for discussion between BT and industry with Consult21 this month.
If you would like to know more about the work of Consult21 please see our website at www.btwholesale.com/consult21.
Or if you would like to receive regular information and become more involved in the Consult21 Working Groups please contact helen.nurse@bt.com
For more information on BT’s 21st Century Network please see http://www.bt.com/21cn
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