BT's expansion demonstrates continuous commitment to Middle East

BT has been in the region for about 30 years and has substantial presence in the market. In the Middle East, BT is committed long-term to increasing its presence as evidenced by the opening of its Dubai office as the regional hub in June 2006, starting with approximately 5 employees and currently exceeding over 75 employees in the Dubai office and 150 in the rest of the Middle East region.

BT plans on doubling its market share and its current staff in the region, as it invests $50m into the network expansion across the Middle East over the coming three years. BT plans to take on more of the service provider market in the Middle East, fuelled by new services and investment strategy.

The investment will increase BT's network density, enabling the company to offer new innovative services to its existing and potential clients. The key sectors to benefit will include financial services industry, media and broadcasting and the oil and gas industry.

Jinna Bains, BT Country Manager Middle East, said:

"We see the region as a very exciting and promising market for our services. Our success in the region is demonstrated by the fact we have doubled the number of employees and continue to invest in the network infrastructure. These investments strengthen our presence and meet the increasing demand for our innovative services."

Currently, BT supplies a core of set networked IT services such as managed global IP services, business continuity services launched recently at MECOM, security and risk resilience quickstarts, CRM services, sector specific solutions, professional services and outsourcing to the multi-site organization and major institutions.

In particular BT has developed an offer to support the fast-growing real estate market in the region by combining a next generation managed IP platform with monitoring and control systems enabling owners to offer pre-packaged value added services to their tenants, whilst pro-actively controlling their operating costs. This "Smart City" proposition enables real estate developers to bring to the market a solution that can quickly and seamlessly adapt to the needs of customers and the latest technology evolution.

BT has been serving more than 860 customers across the Middle East for over 30 years. Current customers in the Middle East include Showtime, Dubai World companies, EMAK IS (Al Kharafi) Wafa Financial Services, regional telecommunications operators and government bodies as well as over 300 global clients such as Unilever, Visa, Thomson Reuters and British Airways.