BT Expands in Turkey, Middle East and Africa

LONDON -- BT today announced a series of initiatives aimed at doubling its business across Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. Global companies investing in these regions, as well as local companies expanding further afield, will be supported by additional highly qualified staff, including professional services specialists.

They will also gain access to a richer portfolio of innovative services, leveraging BT’s network breadth and depth.These initiatives build on similar programmes in Asia Pacific and Latin America, where orders in the first nine months of this financial year were up over 50 per cent.

According to BT’s research, the addressable market in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa was worth a combined £5.4bn in 2011. IT spending growth across the regions is expected to top 10 per cent in 2012 Source : IDC - Middle East, Africa, and Turkey Top 10 Predictions, 2012.

BT already serves around 600 large organisations in the regions, including many of the world’s leading global companies.As part of the new programme, BT will hire around 170 new employees across the three regions, including highly skilled professional services specialists to provide local support to customers and deliver consulting, integration and managed services.

Customers in the regions will be able to access a wider range of “intelligent” network services provided by the BT Connect portfolio. Local companies with global aspirations will fully benefit from BT Connect’s ability to provide services in 197 countries and territories. Leveraging this infrastructure, new propositions will be launched in the regions, providing innovative networked IT services.

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA)