British telecoms operator BT Group, once the biggest foreign player in Asia's telecommunications market, is planning an aggressive return to the region, a report said on November 26 citing top executives.
The Business Times said the group had started hiring staff, buying companies and real estate, and investing in new infrastructure.
"We are spending a lot of time and money in the Asia-Pacific ... We see the region as a regrowth opportunity for us," BT International president Francois Barrault was quoted as saying.
BT Group is the successor to the state-run fixed-line monopoly British Telecom which was privatised in 1984 and then forced to exit some Asian investments under the weight of a mountain of debt in the 1990s. Now, after restructuring, it is once again eying Asia.
"We are in a very aggressive mode," said Barrault, on his fourth visit to the region in as many months.
"This is because BT's large customers want us to be very strong in the Asia-Pacific as they are investing heavily in China and India and want to transfer their businesses onto an Internet Protocoal (IP) platform."
BT's strategy now is to phase out its British public switched telephone network (PSTN), replacing it with a multi-service IP-based network which will carry both voice and data services, the report said.
Most of its clients now are large multinationals rather than small- to medium-sized enterprises and Barrault said the group was being selective about who it works for.
"If we want to be successful on a world basis, serving the large multinational companies, we need to build for them the infrastructure they need to earn their business," he said.
"It's a good business to be in because whatever you do, it's financed.'