英国电信转型的启示 谁主沉浮

英国电信转型的启示: 谁主沉浮 (一）？Zz:/mblog/393058_78334按语：笔者于1996至2010年间在英国电信公司（BT）研究院任职十三年多，亲身经历了该公司自1984-1994年全面私有化以后伴随着三个董事会和三任总裁的来来去去所发生的三次最深刻的变化；每次变化都与当时的欧洲及世界总体经济和社会形势的发展密切相关。这些变化包括公司总体战略的转型，内部机构和职能的重大改组和核心通信及信息业务的变迁。笔者对这些大起大落的变化有一些特有的感受、见解和思考，这里写出来和大家分享，将分两次登出。值得一提的是，尽管BT现在主要是英国主导的固网运营商和走在前列的遍及全球网络化信息和通信服务提供商(Global Networked ICT Service provider)，其所服务的市场、规模和对象与中国移动完全不同，但它几经波折的转型过程、经验和教训对我们目前全业务的发展和未来走向国际化的征程也是很有启发的。这篇短文原是用英文写成的，暂以英文发布，谢谢。-BTs Transformation A Personal Account（1）第一次变迁：In October 1996 I joined British Telecommunications Plc (BT), arguably being one of the first two full-time employees from mainland China in the entire company. Over more than thirteen years followed, I have witnessed as well as experienced a series of company-wide radical changes and transformations, in terms of the companys vision and strategic directions, core businesses and its effective organisations, masterminded by three successive Boards and CEOs of rather different styles and characters, in the face of global economic crisis and fiercely competitive market conditions at the time. 1996.10，我加入BT，成为整个公司第一批来自中国大陆的两位全职员工之一。在BT任职超过13年，我已经目睹一系列公司范围激进的变换和变革。按照公司的愿景和战略方向，核心业务和它的高效组织，由三界董事会和风格迥异的CEO策划，以此应对全球经济危机和当时激烈竞争的市场。During my first few years tenure between 1996 and 1999, with over 75% UK market share, BT was then the UKs dominant telephony-based telecommunications operator with both fixed line and mobile networks and assets; the latter also extended to several major EU countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands either as a wholly owned subsidiary or in joint venture with partners of the countries. 1996-1999，BT在英国超过75%市场份额，是当时英国的主导电信运营商，含盖固定网络和移动网络以及资产。其中移动网络和资产也扩张到几个主要的欧盟国家,如法国、德国、荷兰，成立全资子公司或者同合作伙伴国家成立合资公司。In the late 1990s and early 2000, however, with the ambition and eagerness of rapid expansion to become a truly global operator, BT was going through a badly judged spending spree whilst buying Internet and Telecom assets at premium price worldwide but particularly in the Far East including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, etc; the intention was to get ready in time for the then upcoming bid for 3G mobile licence in these countries or regions in order to build a global presence in the first instance. Unfortunately, the subsequentdotcomboom and bust plus paying a hugely inflated price to the UKgovernments treasury chest in the auction of UKs 3G spectrum made its debt swell wildly beyond control, amounting to over 30 billion Pounds at its peak.Further addition to this woe was the continuously loss making of the global service company named Concert the 10 billion US dollars 50:50 joint venture between BT and Americas AT&T. 然而，在90年代末和21世纪初，随着快速扩张成为一家真正的全球运营商的雄心和渴望，BT过渡判定消费热潮，同时以全球的溢价购买了互联网和电信资产，特别在远东地区，包括：香港、马来西亚、新加坡、韩国、日本等。目的：以备及时竞购这些国家和地区的3G移动牌照，建立全球影响力运营商的第一个实例。很不幸，随后的互联网繁荣和衰退，加上此次拍卖英国3G频谱，为英国政府财政金库支付巨大被抬高的价格，使得BT债务剧增远超过控制，在顶峰时总计超过300亿英镑。另外，由BT和AT&T各持股50%斥资100亿美元而成立的全球服务公司Concert持续亏损，让BT雪上加霜。In a desperate attempt to serve this unbearable mountain of debts, to survive and to revive BTs fortune, a series of draconian measures had to be taken, which included:a hurried retreat from the Far East markets by selling, at a huge discount, all the assets one by one in the countries mentioned before; raising a 5.9 billion pounds rights issue in the market then the largest in Europes corporate history; disbanding Concert, the joint venture company with AT&T; demerging BT Wireless,the vital mobile business division from BT parent in 2001. BT Wireless then became an independent Mobile Network Operator now known as “O2”, which was subsequently taken over by Spanish Operator Telefnica in 2007. The loss of this valuable mobile asset has seen BT miss the enormous revenue growth opportunity in the years to come and struggle to have a viable mobility strategy.为了应对债务，BT做了一个艰难的尝试，即为了生存，为了复兴BT的财务，行使了一系列苛刻措施，包括：紧急撤出远东市场并以低价一个个出售在上述那些国家的资产；在市场提高59亿英镑的增股是欧洲企业历史上最大的一次；解散与AT&T合营的“Concert”公司；分离BT Wireless，它是源于2001年BT母公司的重要移动业务部门；BT Wireless后来成为一家独立的移动网络运营商，即现在的O2，并于2007年被西班牙电信运营商收购。失去宝贵的移动资产，说明在未来几年争取可行的移动战略中，BT将错失巨大的利润增长的机会。Such was the dire legacy of the first board chairman Sir Iain Vallance and CEO Sir Peter Bonfield that I have experienced, resulting in BT being the only incumbent Telco among the five major European economies without aMNO.这就是我经历过的，第一个董事长Vallance和CEOPeter Bonfield的给BT留下的可怕遗产。这导致BT成为五个主要的欧洲经济体中，现存的唯一一个没有移动网络运营商的电话公司。-第二次变迁：A new era then arrived when a new board was installed in 2002 and the former chairman of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sir Christopher Bland, a very pragmatic and shrewd business man, became the Chairman. He then hired a Dutch man called Ben Verwaayen as CEO, coming freshly from his second chair position at the then Telecom equipment vendor Lucent Technologies.The pair faced the improbable dilemma: On the one hand, they needed to grow BTs flagging business and deliver shareholder values but UK Telecom market liberalisation since 1984 has created several hundreds alternative voice service providers,all eating BTs cake of this dominant traditional business in a cut-throat competition.On the other hand, BT has got no easy way out as the power engine of MNO service for business growth was there no more. Their subsequent strategy has been to start one (later turned out to be one after another) transformation programme to transform BTs businesses, whilst focussing on what was then called “New Wave” of technologies and business opportunities, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Internet and broadband, mobility (fixed-mobile convergence: Piggyback on Vodafones mobile network; Wi-Fi hotspots). This was later evolved or superseded by also including the flagship move to next generation network, i.e., the so-called 21st Century Network (21CN), next-generation access (NGA) and Superfast broadband, and a vast range of applications that they enable. The strategic vision was to transform BT from a traditional Telco (and one of the worlds oldest ones) into a leading networked ICT service provider worldwide.一个新的时代到来了，2002年新一届董事会成立，前BBC主席Christopher Bland，一位非常务实和精明的商务人士，被任命为董事长，他雇佣一名荷兰人Ben Verwaayen为CEO，之前是电信设备商朗讯科技总裁。这两位面临很大困难： 一方面，他们需要增长BT衰弱的业务和交付股东价值，但是英国电信自1984年以来的自由市场竞争，已经产生数百家可代替语音服务的提供商，在激烈的竞争中，它们蚕食着BT主导的传统业务收入这份蛋糕。另一方面，BT再也没有作为业务增长重要动力的MNO(移动运营商)服务。他们后来行使的战略去改变BT的业务，开始了一个变革计划，同时聚焦于新潮的科技和业务机会，包括ICT、互联网、宽带、移动化。这后来进化或被下一代网络取代，例如，所谓的21世纪网络21CN，下一代网络接入NGA和超宽带，和它们支持的广泛可用的应用程序。这个战略愿景是将BT从传统电信(和世界上最古老的电话公司之一)变成一个全球领先网络化ICT服务提供者。To facilitate this transformation, BT Group businesses have been re-organised into four Market Facing Units (MFUs) and two supporting Units. The four MFUs include1. BT Global Services (BT GS) which serves primarily multinational corporate customers networking and ICT needs and would follow its customers geographical presence and footprints anywhere worldwide (reaching 170+ countries);2. BT Retail which serves the UK consumers home-based markets (the essentials of broadband home: Voice/data/IPTV) as well as SOHO and SME markets;3. BT Wholesale which provides core network and wholesale service to all the aspiring alternativecommunication providers (CPs)4. Openreach which operates the access network of the last miles; this is a heavily regulated business by UK government regulator OFCOM to ensure equivalence of input (EoI) connectivity product available to all CPs as well as BTs own retail and wholesale businesses.The two supporting Units are BT Design which is responsible for new product/service/solution design and delivery on BTs chosen infrastructure and platforms in close collaboration with MFUs and their customers; and BT Operate which runs BTs internal IT operations and external business services. 为了促使这一变革，BT集团企业重组为4个市场针对单位MFUs和2个支持单位。这4个MUFs包括：1. BT Global Services (BT GS)，服务于主要跨国企业客户的网络和ICT需求，并跟随它客户全球任何地方(170+国家)的地理位置和足迹。2. BT Retail服务英国消费者的家庭市场（宽带家庭必需品：语音、数据、IPTV），同时还有SOHO（Small Office/Home Office和SME(small medium enterprise中小型企业)。3. BT Wholesale：为所有小型电信提供商CPs，提供核心网和批发业务（其实就是出租电信资源业务。）4. Openreach: 运营接入网络的最后一英里。这是一个严格受英国通信管理局OFCOM监管的业务，以确保对所有通信提供商与BT自己的批发业务，是等价的输入连接服务产品。两个支撑单位是1. BT Design：负责基于BT已选的架构和平台，密切与MFU和他们的客户合作，设计和发布新产品/服务/方案设计。2. BT Operate: BT的内部IT运营和外部业务服务。英国电信转型的启示: 谁主沉浮 （二）？Zz:/mblog/393058_78346BTs Transformation A Personal Account （2）第三次变迁：The pair of Bland and Verwaayen parted with BT over the year around 2008 within six months of each other, luckily just before the start of the current global economic recession caused by credit crunch, when BT was seemingly in a good shape; the baton was passed on to the hands of their successors Sir Michael Rake (former chairman of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the international accountant firm) and Ian Livingstone, a Scotsman and also an accountant by training.Bland和Verwaayen这一对搭档，在2008年离开了BT。幸运的是当前全球经济衰退造成的信贷紧缩开始之前,英国电信是看起来良好;指挥棒传到他们下一个继任者手里：Michael Rake，普华永道前董事长和Livingstone，一位苏格兰人，同样是一名训练有素的会计。The severe crisis, in terms of the spiralling running cost in the Global Service Unit, however, was already brewing, and it is now up to this ruthless pair of accountants to deal with another and more serious crisis to date. Whilst three of the four BTs MFUs were still making respectable profits, the GS Unit had been expanding too rapidly and excessively (in the same fashion but taking a different from as what happened previously in the late 1990s), burning cashes at an ever fast speed: it had a record business book according to the number of significant ICT contracts signed with corporate and government clients, which amounted to billions of pounds (its salesmen thus got handsome bonuses), but many of these contracts were difficult to fulfil, and had a very small profit margin and tight delivery schedules. 然而，根据BT Global Service螺旋上升的成本，严重的危机已经在酝酿，现在轮到这对无情的会计搭档去处理到目前为止更多严重的危机。同时，3个MFUs仍然盈利可观，但GS Unit已经扩张太快和太过分(以相同的方式发生，类似90年代），以很快的速度燃烧现金。它有一个记录业务的书，记录着根据和企业和政府客户签订的重大ICT合同数，总计数十亿英镑，但是这些合同中许多是很难履行的，且只有很小的利润率和很紧张的交货时间。The subsequent failures in delivering the contracts on time and within budget made the projected annual and overall revenue and profits unattainable. The result was a series of big write-off of the assets of the Unit worth a total of 1.58 billion pounds. This crisis was being stemmed as the time entered the year of 2009 yet through another major business re-structuring, by way of applying finance austerity measures and, most notably, the reduction in staff headcount cost as widely reported in media headlines at the time.随后，交付合同的时间和预算范围内的失败，使得年度和整体收入及利润不可达到，总价值为15.8亿英镑。随着时间进入2009年，这场危机正在遏制，然而通过主要业务重组，运用财政紧缩措施和在员工人数减少成本。So, what has been and will be, even though reluctantly, BTs longer-term strategy to turn the companys fortune around and start to grow again？ The answer hinges on speeding up the investment programme started by Verwaayen over five years ago, which is, on the international front, by building the worlds leading NGN the global 21CN platform (IP-MPLS) to best serve customers, or help customers to innovate and succeed, whilst in the UK, by rolling-out the so-called Superfast Broadband (SFBB), i.e., ADSL2+, FTTC: VDSL2+; FTTP: GPON, extending coverage for residential and SOHO/SME customers. Meanwhile there are also a series of side actions addressing the mobility market but in a modest supporting way only:所以，什么和将会是BT的长期战略，使公司的财富开始再次增长？答案是在过去5年Verwaayen加快投资计划的实施，通过建立世界领先的NGN，全球21CN平台(IP-MPLS)，去最好地服务于客户,或帮助客户创新和成功。在英国,通过推出所谓的超高速宽带(SFBB)，扩展覆盖住宅和SOHO /中小企业客户。与此同时也有一系列的行动，解决移动性市场,但合理的支持方式只有:The global 21CN platform consists of:An advanced IP-based network, using leading edge technology, reaching more locations (178+ countries and regions) around the globe than any other network. In the UK, it will replace a number of existing networks and systems to provide for faster, more efficient, and cheaper delivery of new services (global footprint; do away with dozens of domestic legacy networks)IT systems providing virtual processing and storage capability, flexibly and at low cost (Virtual Data centre, or cloud computing services)re-usable capabilities and tools allowing BT and others to develop new services running on the platform faster and more cheaply (Various open SDKs provided)一个先进的基于ip的网络,使用先进的技术，比其他任何网络覆盖更多地区（178+国家和地区）。在英国,它将取代许多现有的网络和系统,以提供更快、更有效、更便宜的交付的新服务。IT系统提供虚拟处理和存储能力，灵活和较低成本(虚拟数据中心或云计算服务)的可重用功能和工具，允许BT和其他人开发新服务的平台上运行更快和更便宜(提供开放sdk)This global platform will:empower customers with control, choice and flexibility - including communications from anywhere to any deviceradically enhance the customer experienceoffer exciting new services for customers faster than before21CN will make BT the worlds first truly open, global and real-time communications services company, enabling customers to access converged, next generation communications and cloud services directly through self-service or as fully managed services. 21CN enables BT and its customers to participate in software-driven innovation.这个全球平台将: 授权客户：控制、选择和灵活性包括通信从任何地方的任何设备从根本上增强客户体验，为客户提供令人兴奋的新服务，速度比以前更快，将使英国电信世界上第一个真正开放,全球和实时通信的服务公司,允许客户访问聚合,下一代通信和云服务直接通过自助服务或作为完全托管服务。21 cn允许BT和它的客户参与软件创新。In parallel with the 21CN development, BT has also quietly acquired various IT services and solutions business assets such as BT Infonet (formerly Infonet Service Corp in the US, a managed network communications service provider); BT Radianz (formerly Radianz, serving financial markets); Frontline Technologies in Singapore to serve Fast East and China markets, and Ribbit in Silicon Valley, which provides soft switch technology and platform, allowing application developers to interact with telephone networks.与之平行21 cn发展,英国电信也暗地里获得了各种IT服务和解决方案业务资产,如英国电信Infonet(以前Infonet服务集团在美国,一个托管网络通信服务提供者);BT Radianz(以前,服务金融市场Radianz);前线技术在新加坡去服务远东和中国市场,Ribbit在硅谷,它提供了软开关技术和平台,允许应用程序开发人员通过电话网络联系。The price tag for the completion of 21CN programme was 10 billion Pounds over five-years, and for the SFBB within UK it had been planned to be 1.5 billion Pounds to reach 40% of Britain, or 10 million households by 2012. The release of the UK governments blueprint report Digital Britain on 12th June 2009 has had positive impact on BTs intent to pledge investing another 3 billion Pounds to reach 90% of UK households. 为完成21 cn计划的价格标签是5年100亿英镑。在英国，SFBB已经计划到2012年，15亿英镑将达到覆盖英国40%,或1000万户家庭。英国政府发布的报告“数码英国”的蓝图在2009年6月12日有积极影响BT的意图，承诺投资另一个30亿英镑以使英国家庭覆盖将达到90%。In contrast with the above aggressive spending, BTs mobility ambition was rather modest, and patched efforts had been primarily expended in building more and more Wi-Fi hotspots, branded as BT Openzone, to extend their coverage in the UK and, together with roaming partners, across Europe. Many initiatives such as BT Fusion (now withdrawn); BT Fon; the link of RIMs BlackBerry Mobile Voice Service (MVS) with BT unified communications platform (UCP); hook iPhone to BT Openzone; link O2 wireless broadband to BT Openzone, etc, have been (or planned to be) introduced with different degree of success (or promise).相比之下，与上述激进的开支，英国电信的移动性的野心是相当温和，打补丁的努力被主要消耗在建筑越来越多的wi - fi热点，品牌作为BT Openzone,来扩大他们在英国的覆盖，加上一些移动合作伙伴，来覆盖整个欧洲。许多项目如BT融合(现在撤回);BT Fon;链接的RIM的黑莓手机语音服务(MVS)与BT统一通信平台(规定);绑定iPhone到BT Openzone;链接O2无线宽带到BT Openzone等,已经(或计划)显示了不同程度的成功(或承诺)。In summary, among worlds leading telecommunications network and service providers, BT is a rarity not to own a 3G mobile network. To maintain an edge in inc