BT, AT&T Venture Has No Plans Yet For Business in Japan: BT Japan
nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com
August 6, 1998
(TOKYO) --
Koshiro Kitazato,
representative
director and chairman
of BT Japan, said that
the joint-venture
agreement reached
by British
Telecommunications
Plc and AT&T Corp.
on July 26 will set the
stage for a major
turning point in the
fast-expanding
telecommunications
business.
Speaking with Asia
BizTech, Kitazato
said no plans have
been worked out on
the joint venture's
business activities in
Japan.
Kitazato was asked
about the reason that
the telecom giants in
Britain and the United
States agreed to set
up a joint venture. He
replied that AT&T's
international telecom
business has yet to
grow sufficiently,
while BT wanted to
gain a foothold in the
U.S. market and take
advantage of
America's largest
telecom firm's
operation bases and
its capabilities to
develop new
products.
According to
Kitazato, both BT
and AT&T will
separate their
international business
departments from
their main operations,
and will shift the
departments to the
joint venture. One
year later, the joint
venture will set up its
main office in the
United States and will
hire about 5,000
people from all parts
of the world, he said.
Kitazato said the joint
venture will provide a
new and powerful
international network
service based on the
Internet protocol. By
making the most of
the networks owned
by the two telecom
companies, the new
venture will handle
massive volumes of
data, or many times
more than the
combined volume
handled by the parent
companies, he said.
The main data to be
handled by the joint
venture will be those
related to telephone
and
electronic-commerce
services, and the new
firm will be a
low-cost operator, he
noted.
Kitazato said many
items have yet to be
decided as concerns
the business in Japan,
including the name of
the new company and
its range of activities.
He also said that the
accord reached
between the British
and U.S. telecom
giants will serve as a
major turning point in
the telecom industry.
To survive the
large-scale reform in
the telecom sector,
companies must
depart from their
traditional practices
of forming alliances
with firms in the same
industrial group, or
with affiliated firms.
By this autumn, when
the COM Japan
trade show will be
held, concrete plans
on the new firm's
business strategies
and services may be
worked out, Kitazato
added.
(BizTech Editorial
Dept.)
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