New products for old - making a profit

We all know how much if costs to make a telephone call - or do we? There ar e over 150 companies in the UK telecommunications market-place, all with th eir own unique blend of people, processes and systems, and operating costs. There are even more packages of services and prices, aimed at different se gments of the market, and it is vital to each operator; including BT, that these packages actually make money. In order to understand how to set price s, BT needs to understand the basis of its costs, how these are allocated t o the different services, and which services contribute revenue over and ab ove these costs. This applies to both retail trading, and also wholesale tr ading, within BT and between BT and other operators for interconnect servic es. This paper looks at the process of engineering networks to meet the demand for BT's services, and applies whole-life financial techniques to identify hole much it really costs the business to offer these services. It looks at BT's wholesale pricing, and at how trading units within the company can bu ild relationships that lead to both the profitable operation of existing se rvices, and the successful introduction of new services. It looks at the ev olution of network platforms, new product development, and the effects of p ricing options, from the present day until well into the next century.