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- *** EXERPTS FROM SLIDES PRESENTED TO TWU EXECUTIVE BY GEORGE
- HOLMS, OPERATIONS 95 DIRECTOR AT BC TEL. In conjunction with the
- BCTRURAL.DOC file, this file illustrates BC Tel's plans behind
- their apparent oppostion to the Unitel application at the CRTC to
- enter the LD market. Where possible comments which are strictly
- of an industrial relations nature have been deleted, as have
- (necessarily) graphics and other 'attractions' of these slide
- based presentations. -- jrw***
-
- Survival* Through the 90's
- * Dictionary Definition: "Survival" To continue to live and exist
- after a catastrophic incident.
-
- ■ The threat is real
- ■ Our main source of revenue is treatened
- ■ We need to change now
-
- How do we do this???
- ■ Re-price basic local exchange service
- ■ Change applications from free to chargeable
- ■ Increase price of services that are conducted at less
- than cost
- ■ Re-configure operations with minimal disruption to
- people
-
- When do we do this???
- Urgent that we start now!
-
- OPERATIONS '95 PROJECTS
- ■ Common Call Distribution
- ■ Phone Mart
- ■ Sales by Phone/Segmentation
- ■ Inside Wire
- ■ RNCC
- ■ Soft Dial Tone
- ■ RIDs
- ■ OP Engineering
- ■ Construction
- ■ Billing and Remittance
-
- (Editors Note: Aspects of all of these have some industrial
- relations component. In areas that are explained or copied from
- BC Tel documents the industrial relations component will be
- separated out, where possible. Projects like Sales by
- Phone/Segmentation, RNCC, Soft Dial Tone, OP Engineering and
- Construction have significant industrial relations concerns which
- are beyond the scope of this discussion.)
-
- COMMON CALL DISTRIBUTION (Edited)
- ■ Progressively link to Common Provincial ACD
- - Repair Answer
- - Business Account Reps
- - Overdue Accounts
- - Residence Account Reps
-
- ■Voice Response System
- - Currently used in Lower Mainland for Phone Mart
- listed numbers.
- - Type and availability of other applications
- undetermined.
-
- (Editors Comment: For those who don't know an ACD is, it is the
- machine which answers phones with something like: "All our
- representatives are busy right now, please hold until we get to
- you. Please do not call back again as the calls are answered in
- order." Callers are often left holding, listening to muzak for a
- number of minutes before, finally, getting through to either a
- person or a VRS.
- A voice response system is similar to that used on the Talking
- Yellow Pages or most VoiceMail systems, which is to say that
- after waiting on the ACD the caller is presented with a series of
- menus which require a response by pushing a button on the phone.
- The amount of human interaction is kept to a minimum and may
- often be discouraged by the system.)
- INSIDE WIRE
-
- (Editors Comment: As part of Operations '95 BC tel plans to get
- out of the business of installing and maintaining wire inside a
- premises. This is considered to be the wire(s) which extend from
- the residence protector (fuse) to the set(s).)
-
- ■ American companies got our of inside wire and laid off
- employees
-
- ■ When they re-entered as a business thrust, many
- customers found they could live without a maintenance
- contract.
-
- ■ Southern Bell took 2½ years to get a 60% penetration
-
- ■ Southern Bell said, "if they had it to do over, they
- would have exioted and offered contract at that time."
-
- ■ We may miss opportunity for a good business
-
- REMOTE ISOLATION DEVICE
-
- ■ Applications and use undetermined
-
- (Editors Comment: This is a test device which will allow BC Tel
- to get out of the inside wiring business by allowing testing to
- only the protector. No device has, as yet, been chosen.)
-
- BILLING AND REMITTANCE
-
- ■ Concerns
- - Costs of billing extremely high
- - Cost of remittance for those paid in Phone
- Marts are extremely high
-
- ■ Way Forward
- - Once again, explore possibility of shared
- billing
- - Establish alternate payment agencies
-
- (Editors Comment: Also being considered is some form of automated
- teller similar to bank machines.)
-
- PHONE MART CONCERNS
- ■ High cost
- ■ Service oriented
- ■ Wrong customer attracted
- ■ Incomplete product line
- ■ Continue to lose market share in retail sets
- ■ Retail and lease extremely vulnerable to AT&T type
- competition
-
- PHONE MART
- ■ Way foreward
- - Pursue alternate payment agencies
- - Trial a new type of store in metropolitan area
-
- (Editors Note: The "Super" Phone Mart trial store is currently
- being planned for Richmond. Unwritten is BC Tel's intent to
- close all other Phone Marts in the Metropolitan area if the trial
- is successful.)
-
- (Also includled in BC Tel's Operations '95 package is a summary of
- an article from the Financial Post dates December 21, 1990. It
- is reproduced here without change. Ed.)
-
- FIRST MAJOR U.S. CARRIER CRACKS CANADA
-
- ■ A MAJOR U.S. telephone company, US Sprint Communications Co.,
- is poised to get into the Canadian long-distance business, acting
- as a distributor for Unitel Communications Inc.
-
- ■ US Sprint, based in Kansas City, Mo., is the third largest US
- long distance carrier. It would be the first US carrier to set
- up in Canada, but many expect giant American Telephone and
- Telegraph Co. and MCI Communications Corp. to follow -- which
- would drastically change the Canadian phone business.
-
- ■ With its aggressive marketing skills, US Sprint could threaten
- the Canadian resellers as well as established phone companies.
-
- ■ "I think US Sprint would be a major competitive challenge for
- Bell Canada," added one source.
-
- ■ Industry sources said US Sprint is already recruiting employees
- to head Sprint Canada, a new subsidiary which recently opened a
- Toronto office.
-
-