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BT shifts network, blame to fourth party

BT is planning to consolidate maintenance contracts on its outsourced local networks, the copper in the ground, to Carillion and Telent in a £1bn cost-cutting measure. The deal, currently at the letter-of-intent stage, involves putting all the maintenance and extension of BT's local-loop business under one contract in the hope …

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john loader

BT has lost the plot

BT and its forebears have been maintaining the copper network for over 100 years. if they haven't worked out how to do it economically by now what hope is there for the rest of the business given they can't manage computer systems either? If you're a phone company surely this is core?

And remember when Railtrack used contractors - Potters Bar and Hatfield. Potential for service to suffer to bolster the profits of third parties with no link to the end customer and buttressed from feedback by BT Indian Call Centre staff.

Anonymous Coward
FAIL

Groan...

"or aluminium if you're really unlucky"

groan, don't mention that to us....A branch in Leeds suffered this. BT would "repair" this by swapping one corroded pair with another. Eventually dumped them for C&W, they did the same for about 6 months then got so pissed off, ripped up the road and replaced with copper.

Whoever thought of that "cost saving" should have been shot.

Elmer Phud
Alert

Letting go

How many Opensore staff will be axed (sorry, redeployed) once the cable has gone elsewhere?

I just about missed the fiasco in the early 1990's (transferred elsewhere) and watched while all around were shat on by those above.

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

You what?

Can we have some clarity/analysis here?

If we're talking about outsourcing the groundworks part of the BT empire, then maybe yeah.

If we're talking about outsourcing the installation and faultfinding part of the BT empire, then WTF? Presumably the Openreach guys and gals would be TUPE'd?

No more clarity in the press release: http://www.telent.com/?q=node/2711

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

You've missed the white elephant.

BT do have the best technology and people for looking after the loops however they also have the largest pension hole you can imagine. Anything that can reduce the headcount helps the crippling pension.

TeeCee

Re: You what?

I thought the article was perfectly clear myself. As I read it there's effectively no change here. Currently OpenRetch outsource maintenance to world+dog and are negotiating one contract with only two subcontractors to do the lot.

Or, in other words, the number of different uniforms worn by the blokes who move the deckchairs on the Titanic is being reduced.

MrWeetabix
Paris Hilton

Another FAIL for out-sourcing

To save money and increase profit they out-source to another company who will also want to save money and increase profit.

So basically they'll be doing the job for a lot less, but still making a profit.....

What's the catch?

Oh yeah, monkeys, working for peanuts, delivering a service full of banana skins.

Paris, because she knows a good screw and potential cock-up when she sees one.

Anonymous Coward
Paris Hilton

Hmmm

AFAIK, this contract is about the "civils" side of things.

ie, duct laying, manhole building etc.

PH? Well, laying and....oh,.. work it out yourself...

Dave Bell

Only one way it makes sense

So we now have an extra profit-taking layer, with management, to be paid.

I can't see how there can be economies of scale.

So company profits can only come from a bit of legal manouvering to cut pension liabilities, and their effect on profits is mostly down to fluctuations in interest rates anyway.

SaruKaito
Megaphone

mis-management

this is yet another sign of total mis-management but bonuses all round (for management only) for an excellent job done.

and scr*w the people that actually do the work...

MrWeetabix, well said....

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Carillion

I thought they had been taken over by Crapita.

Anonymous Coward
Stop

THE ABOVE ARTICLE IS INCORRECT...

The genius who wrote this aritcle is very much mistaken. No local loop work is to be out sourced.... This contract with Carillion-telent is only for maintenance digging in the road and pavement. Openreach and BT have used multiple digging contractors for years and years due to the revised road and street works act. To lift a flag and dig 1M squared in sand costs around £400. Its a mindfield, and the council make a bomb. As for the comments on network problems..... much is true, however that is what the phone tax and next generation access program aims to fix and future proof. There isn't anything wrong with a mile or two of copper. For all you geniuses who think Virgin have dancing angels and mini samuel jacksons partying to super speed broadband in their phone sockets..... Load of bull. They use copper and old fiber technology, and rent copper loops from Openreach, (to be fair Virgin are upgrading too). There is eff all line loss on a couple of miles of fault free copper. The network is getting up graded.... people are trying their best. We are paying pittance for telecoms compared to America and the likes, Just have to wait for the government to help fund the network upgrade.

eJ2095

Bring on teh gaff tape

Yay more gaff tape sales

Spongeh
FAIL

@ AC re Capita

Carillion IT Services has been split in 2. The external customers that had outsourced their IT work to Carillion have been sold off to Capita. The internal support for the Carillion IT infrastructre has its self been outsourced to Accenture in India. As of next Friday nearly 120 of us are out of work, but not a single redunancy as they have forced everyone to sign compromise agreements.

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