BT Group Stock

BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. The company develops and sells communications products and services, and builds and operates networks that are a major part of lives, businesses and communities.

The company’s customers include consumers, businesses, multinational corporations, public sector organizations and other communications providers. It has a total of approximately 26.8 million consumer customers, 1.1 million U.K. business customers and 4,100 multinational customers.

The company sells fixed-voice, broadband, mobile and TV to the U.K. consumers with a range of ancillary products and services, such as handsets and insurance. For its U.K. and worldwide business customers, its services range from phone and broadband to managed networks, IT services and cybersecurity. It also sells wholesale access products and services to the U.K. communications providers.

The company’s organizational structure reflects the various customer groups to which it provides communications products and services through its customer-facing units, including Consumer, Enterprise, Global Services and Openreach.

Consumer

Across the company’s three brands, BT, EE and Plusnet, it connects customers to information, entertainment, friends and family, at home and on the move. Between them, the three brands serve the whole of the U.K., providing mobile, broadband, home phone and TV services. The company buys access to fixed-line and broadband infrastructure from Openreach, and it uses EE’s mobile network to provide mobile phone services.

Enterprise

The company sells communications and IT services to businesses and public sector organizations in the U.K. and Ireland. It also provides network products and services to communications providers operating in Great Britain. The company focuses on four major product markets, including fixed voice, mobile, converged connectivity and networked IT services.

Global Services

The company is a major enterprise communications provider, serving enterprise customers in 180 countries. It provides managed network and IT infrastructure services, enabling customers’ digital transformations.

Openreach

The company builds and operates the fixed network that connects the U.K.’s homes and businesses. It provides wholesale ‘last mile’ fixed access from premises to exchanges, and installs and maintains the fiber and copper communications networks.

Markets

The company operates in the U.K. fixed connectivity; the U.K. mobile; TV and content; converged connectivity and services; global telecom services; and fixed infrastructure markets.

UK Fixed Connectivity

The company provides fixed broadband services to consumers, businesses and communications providers. It connects customers to information, entertainment, and friends and family, at home. Fixed connectivity includes providing connectivity directly to homes or businesses. It includes voice telephony, Internet access and the provision of dedicated lines for business and public sector customers.

Within Enterprise, the company has three major types of customers with various communications needs, such as small and medium enterprise customers, which the company defines as having approximately 100 employees, rely primarily on communications services and focus on consumer-style products; corporate customers, which have complex needs, and who are buying security and cloud-based products; and public sector and major business customers, who look to buy both fixed and mobile services in multi-year contracts and who could demand high security. The company also serves communications providers who want to buy solutions to sell on to their end customers.

In Consumer, fixed Internet connectivity is primarily essential to its individual and household customers, with each using an average of 240GB a year.

The U.K. Mobile

The company provides mobile connectivity to consumers, businesses and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). This market includes various data or voice services on mobile devices. The company uses EE’s mobile network to provide mobile phone services across is three brands to the whole of the U.K. Both Consumer and Enterprise sell mobile services in this market.

Another aspect of the mobile market is wholesaling to MVNOs in the U.K., where MVNOs offer wholesale mobile connectivity.

TV and Content

The company provides TV content to customers. It sells TV content in its Consumer division under its BT and EE brands. The company also wholesales BT Sport to other providers.

Converged Connectivity and Services

The company provides converged products and services to customers. With its fixed and mobile networks, the company primarily operates in the converged connectivity and services market. The company has launched BT Plus, a converged fiber and 4G plan that provides customers BT’s fastest speeds in and out of the home.

The company launched 4G Assure for its business customers, providing 4G connectivity if their fixed broadband service was not available.

Global ICT Services

The company provides ICT services to enterprises worldwide. The global ICT services market includes security, network and IT services. It includes local markets – often dominated by incumbent communications providers – and the global enterprise-grade fixed line services market.

Fixed Infrastructure

The company provides network access to communications providers. In approximately half of the fixed infrastructure market, Openreach is the major provider to communications providers, who then offer services to their home and business customers. In the rest, the company overlaps with its major cable and fiber competitors.

Openreach is deploying new technologies, such as Fibre to the Premises and Gfast to improve the performance and quality of its network. It also provides regulated access to its passive network assets (ducts and poles) to support network build by other providers.

Openreach operates in the U.K.’s regulated, fixed access market and trades primarily with communications providers. It engages in providing services over the local access network, sometimes referred to as the ‘last mile’, installing and maintaining the fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses.

Strategy

The company’s strategy is to lead in converged connectivity and services, capitalizing on new business opportunities and delivering industry-leading operational efficiency.

Significant Events

In November 2020, BT and RingCentral, Inc. announced an expanded partnership to accelerate the adoption of cloud-based communications and support the digital transformation of businesses across the United Kingdom. Cloud Work provided by RingCentral would be a lead Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) offering for BT with small, medium and large sized the United Kingdom enterprises, as well as public sector customers.

History

The company was incorporated in England and Wales in 2001. It was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in 2001.