BT Cellnet Business Case Study & Phone Company
Secondly I shall be investigating BT Cellnet. They are a Public Limited Company (Plc. ). They operate in the tertiary sector. They were launched in January 1985 and in the first year 25,000 customers joined the Cellnet network. In 1988 Cellnet connected 100,000 people in a year for the first time. In 1992 Cellnet launched the UK market’s first consumer tariff package. In 1994 Cellnet reached the landmark of 1 million customers and in 1995 those million people were able to use the highly popular Short Message Service (SMS Texting).
In February 1998 BT Cellnet users could use the 1471 service not only on their house phones but now on their mobiles as well. 1998 was a good year for Cellnet as they were the first mobile network service to cover over 99% of the UK population. 1999 was also a good year for Cellnet as they changed their name to BT Cellnet and they were now broadcast in over 100 countries (101 to be precise). Industry and leading services mean over 11 million people are now using BT to stay in touch. Their i?? 2b network handles over 30 million calls a day and covers over 99% of the UK population.
BT is forging the way ahead for the 3rd generation services. They were the first to bring back the Mobile Internet to their customers and their recent GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) data transfer call over a live GSM network was a world first. BT Cellnet has many sponsors which include the Scottish Rugby Union team, the England Rugby Union team, 95. 8 Capital Fm and Middlesborough Football Club whose Stadium is called The Cellnet Riverside Stadium. BT has many competitors, which include Orange, Virgin, One2one and Vodaphone.
What is a Plc? The main difference between a public and private limited company is that public limited companies have nearly unlimited restriction on the number of shareholders or on the freedom to sell and buy shares depending on how much the company is worth. Shares in a public limited company can be bought and sold on the stock market at any time by individual members of the public, other companies or organisations. Public limited companies have ‘plc’ (meaning public limited company) after their name as for example ICI plc.
The government actually owns shares in some major public limited companies, such as BP, but since private individuals and organisations own the majority of shares in these companies, the companies themselves remain in the private sector. Advantages BT Cellnet can grow as much as it wants but as over 99% of the Uks population do they really want to grow any bigger? As BT gets bigger there is more money coming into the company and more money means that more people can be employed and there will not be a skill shortage.
BT has limited liability, as it is a Plc. If the shares in BT go up in value then if people buy into the company and the company can get more money. Disadvantages Any Plc is at risk of a takeover because if a shareholder buys over 50% of the company then he has the say in the company and he is in charge. The share can increase in value and it can also decrease in value and if people buy shares at a low price and wait till the shares go up in value and then sell them then BT are losing money.
With a Plc there are more people involved so it takes more time to make a decision over something than it would with an Ltd. If you are in a Plc then you can lose control easiliey and you will need to hire accountants and everybody in the company has to obey the L. S. E rules and regulations. All of the accounts in a Plc are public so if you do have an account in a Plc then your acounts will be public. Trends in Telecommunications Telecommunications is a growth area. Mobile phone ownership is currently 16. 8 million. Ownership is said to be peaking.
The main players are Orange, Vodaphone, BT Cellnet, Airtouch, Virgin and One2One. A new innovation is pre-pay phones – though these are supposed to be more expensive in the long run. Business Activities Bt Cellnet’s main business activity is to provide a tariff to the public. They provide different tariffs for example they could sell a tariff where you get cheap call in the morning and more expensive calls at night or the could sell you a tariff where you get cheap calls at night but more expensive calls in the morning depending on how you use your phone.
Influences On Business Bt Cellnett are situated all over the world so they do not have an exact location but the main store is in London. This is because all imports can be easily accessed because Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Most business people use BT Cellnett as it is the cheapest Phone Company and most landlines are BT so it is cheaper to call other business people or to call family at home or at work.
