BT Expands Into Asia

There was a time, long ago, when British Telecom (BT) had a monopoly on British phone services. When deregulation began a couple of decades ago, all that changed, andsuddenly there was competition.   These days BT is a diversified company, and is now poised to expand even further with its $140 million takeover of Frontline, a Singapore IT firm. That’s BT’s second purchase in a week – just last Monday it bought the IT infrastructures division of France’sCS Communication & Systems.   Frontline specializes in IT consulting, as well as outsourcing and systems, and has client in the public sector, as well astransport, healthcare and other areas.   The deal not only plants BT firmly in Asia, it also gives it a presence in the very lucrative Indian market. As part of the deal, Frontline agreed toraise its stake in Indian company Accel Frontline to a majority 51%.   François Barrault, CEO BT Global Services, said,   “Throughthis acquisition we reinforce our ability to provide high quality services to our customers wherever they do business. Frontline brings to BT approximately 5,000  highly skilled and professionalpeople whose reputation for delivering complex solutions and network management services fits perfectly with BT’s strategy. We believe our combined reach and skills will create an unbeatableteam in Asia Pacific as we seek to respond better to our customers’ challenges and opportunities.”