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Telecommunications systems

BT Forms Joint Ventures with Electric Utilities in Ireland and Singapore

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

British Telecommunications PLC (BT) has entered into two joint ventures with electric utilities in Ireland and Singapore to offer voice, data, Internet, and multimedia services to businesses in those countries. The ventures, Ocean and StarHub, are expected to provide commercial services to businesses in early 1999 and 2000, respectively. BT has partnered with Lucent Technologies, Inc. to provide networking equipment and integration services for the planned Internet protocol (IP)-based fiber optic systems.

Key Takeaways:

  • BT has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) to provide telecom services to businesses and residents in Ireland, called Ocean.
  • Ocean plans to hire 100 more employees over the next year, bringing the total to 200, and will provide commercial services to businesses in early 1999.
  • Lucent Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a five-year, $108 million contract to deploy a network linking Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford, and will hire 550 workers over the next four years.
  • BT's venture with Singapore Power, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., and Singapore Technologies Telemedia plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next seven to 10 years on wireline and wireless infrastructure.
  • StarHub has awarded Lucent a multimillion-dollar contract to be the exclusive supplier of optical transmission and access equipment for the first phase of its network build-out.
  • StarHub has also selected Nokia Ltd. to deploy a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network.
  • BT's StarHub consortium plans to launch commercial service on April 1, 2000.

Statistics:

  • BT's joint venture with ESB has awarded Lucent a five-year, $108 million contract.
  • Lucent will hire 550 workers over the next four years in Ireland, at a cost of $18 million.
  • Ocean has 100 employees and plans to hire 100 more over the next year.
  • StarHub plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next seven to 10 years on wireline and wireless infrastructure.
  • StarHub has awarded Lucent a multimillion-dollar contract to supply optical transmission and access equipment.

Sources:

  • [Source 1: Lucent Technologies, Inc. - provided networking equipment and integration services for Ocean's and StarHub's planned Internet protocol (IP)-based fiber optic systems]
  • [Source 2: British Telecommunications PLC (BT) - formed joint ventures with electric utilities in Ireland and Singapore to offer voice, data, Internet, and multimedia services to businesses]
  • [Source 3: StarHub - awarded Lucent a multimillion-dollar contract to supply optical transmission and access equipment for its network build-out]
  • [Source 4: BT's StarHub consortium - plans to launch commercial service on April 1, 2000]

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