BT Global Services
 |
|
| Division | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Headquarters |
BT Centre, London, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Luis Alvarez (CEO) |
| Products |
Fixedline telephony Mobile telephony Broadband internet Digital television IT services |
| Owner | BT Group |
|
Number of employees
|
20,000 (2012) |
| Website | www |
Global Services (GS) is a division of United Kingdom telecommunications operator BT Group. It delivers a combination of communications and IT services to over 5,500 organisations worldwide. Global Services employs around 17,000 people globally, with one of the largest professional services capabilities in its industry.
Luis Alvarez became chief executive of BT Global Services in October 2012.
BT Group began operating as a private corporation after the Telecommunications Act 1984.
During the 1990s, between the loosening of national telecom monopolies and the current (largely) liberalised market, BT Group entered into a number of alliances in order to serve its mainly, then, UK-based multi-national customers. From the 90's through the early 2000s, BT Group, then known as British Telecom, struggled. The company failed to secure a strong partner, struggled to expand internationally, and had significant debt. In 2002 the attempt at an alliance (Concert 2 with AT&T) was disbanded. Thereafter the company brought together a number of joint ventures, partly owned assets and wholly owned subsidiaries into the single entity that exists today. On April 1, 2002, BT’s contracts with former Concert customers were transferred to BT Global Services and BT Retail. BT Ignite was renamed BT Global Services in April 2003. By late 2003, around 50% of BT Global Services’ about 5,000 staff were employed outside the UK.
Between 2002 and 2009, the Global Services division made a string of acquisitions to expand its global footprint and broaden its business offer to customers. Most notable are Radianz, the then network arm of Reuters in 2005; the global network operator Infonet in 2005; managed security market leader Counterpane in 2006; US IT consultancy company International Network Services Corp. (INS) in 2007; and Asian systems integrator Frontline in 2008. In 2016, Global Services signed an agreement to acquire IP Trade S.A., a provider of unified communications and collaboration solutions for trading floor environments and command-and-control dispatch centres.
In 2005, Global Services won a multi-year worldwide outsourcing contract to provide communication and IT services to FIAT in a deal worth €450 million (£303 million) over five years across 40 countries. BT also acquired Fiat's subsidiary, Atlanet for €80 million which provides domestic telecoms services to Fiat and other business customers across Italy. In 2006, Atlanet was merged with Albacom to form BT Italia.
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