BT to sell 21CN knowledge to rival telcos

BT has officially taken the wraps off BT Global Venture, the next generation network consultancy unit it's set up to share its experience of building the 21CN.

Speaking today in Hong Kong, BT's head of wholesale Paul Reynolds claimed the telco is 18 months ahead of any rivals in creating an all-IP network. "In BT, there's a massive programme of change underway. We've learned a number of lessons. You learn lessons when you go first - you have to rewrite the manual," he said.

BT is now hoping to pass on those lessons to other telcos with the launch of BT Global Venture. It believes the market for its services will be worth £38bn over five years.

As well as selling advice to fellow telcos, BT Global Venture will offer to build and operate their networks and provide managed services including content management.

Reynolds said he believes the consultancy will go down best in Asia, where BT is talking to "almost all the carriers". BT has already signed an NGN (next generation network) consultancy deal with Turk Telecom.

Camille Mendler, VP of enterprise research, global communications and converged solutions at analyst Yankee Group, believes the consultancy shows BT is doing things in the right direction.

Mendler said: "A lot of it is reusing people in BT - repurposing expertise built up over the years. And it's new wave revenue - that will make [CEO] Mr [Ben] Verwaayen very happy." She added BT will need an efficient partner ecosystem in place to make the venture work: "It's important to delineate what they will do and what someone like an HP will do."

The first customers on BT's 21CN in the UK were switched on last week and the conversion to the all-IP network should be complete by around 2011.

With most carriers already eyeing a move to a next generation network, some questions remain about technology deployments, including the issue of fibre to the premises, which many believe is essential to ensure all consumers can access broadband services at the high speeds promised by telcos.

According to David Barrett, partner and head of the communications, outsourcing and technology practice group at law firm Simmons and Simmons, cost issues are holding back the deployment of the technology.

He said: "I think unless you find people at BT taking the lead and economics are improved, there will be resistance or we will be stuck with a fair degree of regulation."