After all the early noise and hubbub subsided to a suspicious hush, BT has now quietly given up on its Fusion mobile/fixed broadband phone service to concentrate on what is being described as "a radical new mobile strategy."
Of course, once upon a time BT used to have a proper mobile arm. Remember Cellnet? Well that went the way of all flesh back in 2001 when the business was "spun out" of BT and left to hurtle off into its own independent and successful orbit as it transmogrified into O2.
Then, in 2005, and belatedly admitting that it was missing a trick and then some by not having a mobile strategy, BT launched Fusion.
The media and the public were bombarded with facts and figures. BT said it expected that millions of punters would line up to take advantage of the Fusion technology that would allow users to make cheap or even free phone calls from within and close by to their homes over a BT wireless broadband connection whilst the handset, when transported further than the bottom of the garden, would automatically switch to the Vodafone mobile network or to one of BT's own wi-fi hotspots dotted hither and yon around some parts of the UK. Voila! A home and mobile phone in one!
It sounded like an innovative technology and great consumer idea. The trouble was though that consumers steered clear. Working in the industry as I do and talking to people every day, I hear anecdotal reports on all sorts of services and applications. I have to say that I have never met anyone at all who signed-up for a Fusion phone.
Back in 2005, BT was confidently predicting that by 2010 Fusion's millions of subscribers would form a mighty revenue stream feeding upwards of £1 billion a year into the company coffers. The reality is rather different. Exact user and financial figures are hard to come by as BT is being coy about them, but rumour has it that no more than 45,000 customers became paying Fusion fans.
BT stopped marketing Fusion to the consumer sector some time ago but had continued to advertise the service to the enterprise sector. Now it has given up on that as well.
Since his unexpected appointment as CEO, left-field candidate Ben Verwaayen has turned out to be an inspired appointment and he has done a fantastic job in revivifying BT and giving it the determined leadership the company so evidently needed, but the fact remains that the telco's share price remains stubbornly in the doldrums.
Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, and the 40 days of Lent have begun.
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