==============
Page 1/1
==============

Why British ec©m 'Is still
breedingxeseniment
SPACE-AGE telephones w h i c h
listen when y o u t a l k t o t h e m
are no longer pie-in-the-sky, b u t
the U K telecommunications
business i s s t i l l enmeshed i n
more earthly matters.
The p o t e n t i a l m a r k e t f o r
installing m o d e r n t e l e p h o n e
jacks i n the 76 per cent of U K
homes s t i l l fitted w i t h t h e old
variety i s £500m — b u t o n l y
British Telecom can profit from
this, which causes bitter resentment i n t h e telecommunications business.
Dealers say t h a t BT's dominant market position has slowed
the g r o w t h o f telephone sales
in t h e H i g h S t r e e t a n d contributed t o casualties a m o n g
specialist retail outlets.
The resentment centres o n
the fact t h a t although the. U K
telecommunications market has
been liberalised f u r t h e r a n d
faster than any other European
country, o n l y B r i t i s h Telecom
is allowed to f i t sockets o r connect cable t o t h e p u b l i c telephone network.

level t o which t h e y a r e l i k e l y

liberalisation
UK market rules on toof gt oh ei smt ao rallow
ket f o r line jack
(modern) sockets for secondary
telecommunications telephone
extensions," says the
have not been relaxed consultancy.
Meanwhile, there i s growing
anger a m o n g suppliers a b o u t
enough to placate BT's
monopoly o n socket i n I t is installing 200,000
BT's rivals, reports stallation.
sockets a m o n t h , b u t a t t h a t
rate i t would t a k e n i n e years
Alan Cane
to convert the remaining 15.2m

premises which have o n l y oldMore t h a n 1 7 0 m o d e l s o f
fashioned j a c k plugs.
telephone handsets a r e n o w
Many people w h o b u y teleavailable i n the U K f r o m 30
phones i n t h e H i g h Street d o
suppliers. B r i t i s h Telecom
not realise t h a t o n l y B T c a n
alone offers 36 models, chiefly
install t h e socket. T h e waiting
period f o r installation c a n b e
made by other manufacturers.
four weeks. Systems Dynamics
alleges: " I f n o telephone h a s
been bought, the B T man m a y at which prices w i l l stabilise.
well t r y to sell the customer one There w i l l therefore b e every
of the Inphone (BT's own tele- incentive f o r householders t o
install two o r more handsets.
phones) range.
Systems Dynamics points o u t
"These delays i n the conversion of sockets are said by some that BT is up against aggressive
to be responsible for early casu- price competition f r o m o t h e r
alties a m o n g t e l e p h o n e r e - suppliers and that this new demand i s l i k e l y t o b e m e t b y
tailers."
So suppliers a r e upset t h a t cheaper-end products f r o m i n every telephone they sell adds dependent suppliers.
I t predicts t h a t b y 1990, 2 0
UK EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF TELEPHONE HANDSETS .
to BT's coffers. Only 16 per cent
of homes have more t h a n one per c e n t o f t h e 20m domestic
Last six months
telephone, which implies a very telephones then i n use w i l l be
1982 1 9 8 3
1 9 8 4
large market i n the 1990s. The replaced w i t h handsets bought
'000s L ' 0 0 0 s
L ' 0 0 0 z
price o f telephones i s expected from suppliers other than BT.
The o v e r a l l c o n c l u s i o n i s
to f a l l considerably. T h e oneEXPORTS
2,428 2 , 2 1 9
3 , 6 8 4
piece telephone which sells f o r that home-produced telephones
IMPORTS
3,534 1 3 , 4 2 7
1 1 , 2 4 1
£20 today i s expected t o come will not, i n t h e l o n g term, b e
Source: Overseas Trade Statistics down to £15 by the end o f the able t o compete w i t h massyear and to £10 in 1986, a level produced products from the Far
A new report' o n the U K
1elep hone m a r k e t s a y s :
"Opinion i s t h a t t h e Government made a mistake i n t h i s
particular aspect o f its liberalisation p o l i c y, saying t h a t B T
deliberately devised a system to
slow down t h e growth o f telephone sales and stop independent retailers gaining too much
ground."
Systems Dynamics, t h e consultancy w h i c h compiled t h e
report, says B T i s reluctant t o
move o n t h e i s s u e . " Our
information indicates t h a t t h e

Its best-selling Statesman, a
push-button, t w o piece telephone, i s m a d e b y G E C ,
Philips • TMC a n d P l e s s e y.
Five different kinds o f combined workstation/telephone
are now available i n the UK.
East and that. i n the next year
or so, cheaper and m o r e efficint cordless telephones a n d
loudspeaking o n e - p i e c e t e l e phones are likely.
Mobile t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s
has t h e brightest future, a n d
the suggestion is that a portable
telephone the size o f a pocket
diary w i l l b e commonplace b y
the t u r n o f the century.
Voice activated telephones are
another l i k e l y innovation. T h e
French are planning to test one
system intended f o r public use
next year.
• The U K M a r k e t f o r Telephones; S y s t e m s D y n a m i c s ;
Herotthiate R o a d , C h o r l e y
Wood, 'Zickmansworth, H e r t s ,
WD3 58W