BT wants another crack at US market

Pledges not to repeat mistakes of its Concert venture in the 1990s

Despite its failed Concert partnership with AT&T in the 1990s, BT still harbours ambitions to conquer America to further expand its growing ICT services business.

The UK telecoms giant said today (15 September) that it sees both organic and acquisitional growth in North America, as well as other target regions such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The North American region has always provided a mountainous challenge for outsider companies faced with powerful incumbents but it remains a hugely valuable target in terms of market size and the requirements of UK and European companies that have operations and partners across the Atlantic.

In 1998, BT attempted to break into North America through Concert but the partnership with AT&T to provide an end-to-end carrier service for blue-chips ended in frustration, reduced ambitions and, ultimately, a split in 2001.

However, BT says it has the chops for an ambitious –- albeit very different – approach today.

“I was the person who was sent in to close Concert but I’m a big advocate of growth in North America,” said Tim Smart, BT Global Services president.

He added that with Concert, BT had lost touch with customers’ needs in favour of “bizarre … financial engineering” but that BT still had a brand that resonated with Americans.

“The main problem with Concert was that it was focused on technology and IPO-ing the business rather than what customers needed,” Smart said.

However, he argued that BT contracts such as its huge networking deal with pharmaceuticals giant Bristol-Myers Squibb showed that BT can still win business in the US.

Acquisitions are a possible way for BT to expand its American footprint but the company warned against expectations of mega-mergers. “Don’t come away from this conversation thinking we’re going to buy Verizon or someone like that,” Smart said.