BT rings changes as 192 is opened up to competition

Published on Tuesday 6 August 2002 01:00

TELECOMS giant BT has outlined plans to expand its directories operation after watchdog Oftel opened up the 192 service to competition.

BT Directories will add classified listings to the traditional directory service following the group’s acquisition of Scoot.com. Customers will also be able to access information including sports results, cinema listings and share prices through the number 118 500. The service is likely to generate revenues of 100 million by 2004-05, the company added today.

The move comes after Oftel ended BT’s near-monopoly on voice-based directory services and allocated numbers with the 118 prefix to rivals.

Oftel hopes the move will expand the variety of directory services available and result in cheaper enquiry calls.

BT’s service, which will also be available online, will rival the Talking Pages and Yell.com business of Yell – sold by BT for 2.1 billion last year.

The new service is likely to be launched at the end of the year, although callers will still be able to use the 192 number until August 2003.

The group’s move into classified business listings comes after it acquired the assets of struggling online business Scoot for 8m last month. BT Retail chief executive Pierre Danon said: “What we have got is a very good search engine, a very robust database and a good sales force.”

Scoot’s name and logo may still remain as BT is to consider using Scoot in partnership with other operators.