COLT Telecom Group plc - Banco Best

General
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Our strategic objective is to establish our company as the preferred telecommunications services supplier
to high volume telecommunications end users and telecommunications carriers through the development of
fibre optic networks. Our geographic focus is the metropolitan markets in Europe, emphasising financial and
business centres.
The principal elements of our business strategy include the following:
• focusing on metropolitan markets in Europe to take advantage of the considerable opportunities
resulting from the size and growth potential of the European telecommunications market coupled
with continued telecommunications liberalisation;
• focusing on large financial, media, corporate and government end-users and telecommunications
carriers and providing high quality, reliable telecommunications services and superior customer
service;
• delivering the highest quality, reliable telecommunications products and superior customer service as
a single source provider of voice, data and video services;
• entering markets early where opportunities exist in order to establish competitive advantages over
other potential suppliers and
• creating local companies staffed with local employees to establish a strong local presence.
In response to increasing customer demand and in anticipation of the significant bandwidth and end-toend
connectivity requirements of current and future enhanced products and services, we are expanding our
infrastructure to include national and international facilities linking our local city networks. Our 5,400 route
km inter-city network in northern Europe, which is currently under construction, is planned to be in operation
during the second half of 2000. We have decided to expand our inter-city network infrastructure and expect to
commence the development of the southern European section during the first half of 2000. The southern
section of the network will interconnect several of our local networks in France, Germany, Switzerland and
Italy and will be fully integrated with the northern European network. The southern section of the inter-city
network is expected to be operational by late 2000. In addition to the southern European network
development, we plan to construct network facilities in the UK between London, Birmingham, Manchester
and Leeds. The UK network is expected to be operational by late 2000. We are exploring the possibility of
acquiring additional transatlantic capacity.
We also intend to launch Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) based services. DSL encompasses a range of
higher speed access techniques. The technology enables the local copper loop to be enhanced into a high speed
digital connection for carrying data. Our initial focus for the deployment of DSL services will be in the
German, Dutch, French and UK markets. Using DSL will allow us to extend the range of services we can
offer to our large corporate customers as well as expanding our addressable market for services to smaller and
medium sized companies. We expect to launch our first DSL services by the end of 2000. Full deployment of
DSL is subject to regulatory developments.
We currently offer a range of internet services across Europe and will shortly have four web hosting
facilities operational in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris. During the second quarter of 2000, we plan
to launch service in Madrid and Milan. We also plan to add a further four to six new hosting facilities,
including facilities in Zurich, Vienna and Stockholm, during the second half of 2000 with further expansion in
2001.
We also intend to make significant additional investment in internet-related services. This investment
could include expanding our internet hosting and housing facilities, developing intranet services providing
connectivity for corporations on a local, national and international scale and establishing internet points of
presence (POPs). We believe that there may be opportunities for acquisitions which could increase the speed
of our growth in this area.
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