The move is part of the telco’s strategy to explore high growth regions. BT already serves 600 large organisations in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa and is seeking to increase this number. According to BT’s research, the addressable market in the three regions was worth £5.4 billion in 2011 and IT spending growth is expected to be over 10% in 2012.
For its African expansion plans, BT is improving its network reach and access through an international routing facility and a network connection between the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. The company claims that this will make it the first global operator with its own infrastructure in the country. BT also has interconnection agreements with local partners extending its network reach across sub-Saharan Africa. Jeff Kelly, CEO at BT Global Services said: “Sub-Saharan Africa remains largely a new frontier for ambitious businesses and is currently showing strong growth rates in a number of countries.”
In the Middle East, BT is launching three network nodes, expanding from its base in the UAE. “The Middle East already hosts some of the world’s main business hubs, and is a crucial region for many of our customers. New opportunities are rapidly emerging in the region, and we are now expanding from our thriving base in the United Arab Emirates,” said Kelly.
The company’s expansion in Turkey will be through additional network interconnections, to take advantage of the country’s position as a key business bridge between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
On the back of the expansion programme, BT is also launching additional networked IT services in the regions, including, security, unified communications, contact centre and operational efficiency services. The company is planning to hire approximately 170 employees to support the expansion, including professional services specialists, to provide local support to customers.
Investment in the three regions is part of BT’s global strategy and follows similar programmes announced for Asia-Pacific and Latin America, where orders in the first nine months of this financial year were up over 50%.
