BT concluded negotiations and signed contracts with four of the preferred suppliers for its 21st Century Network (21CN) initiative. Contracts were signed with Ciena, Huawei, Lucent and Siemens. BT expects to conclude negotiations with the remaining four preferred suppliers early in 2006.
Paul Reynolds, BT Wholesale chief executive, said: “21CN represents one of the biggest ever investments in the economic infrastructure of the UK by a private company. It will provide the basis of the most powerful competitive and productive communications environment in the world. These are exciting times and we are making good progress. Six million customer calls have been successfully carried in the latest phase of our 21CN trials, and we have more than 2000 people working on the programme. We have been working closely with the entire telecommunications industry to agree the schedule for roll-out across the UK.”http://www.btplc.com
