Unit 2 unbundling bt

1. Pronounce the following words and word combinations. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Surgical, procedures, perilous, anxious, cross-subsidising, infrastructure, albeit, reluctantly, synergies, applauded, anachronistic, liberalise, surgery.

2. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

Surgical procedures, wholesale and retail divisions, to herald the biggest shake up, fixed-line telecommunications industry, local connections and long distance networks, voice and data services, to run the business in tandem, cross-subsidising, infrastructure divisions, to extract synergies and savings, to one’s credit, wireless internet system, to recapture market share, to offer voice calls over the internet, anachronistic market dominance, “local loop”, local loop connections, sister company, network traffic, to offset competition.

3. Read the text again and answer the following questions.

1. Does BT really need a surgical procedure?

2. What does Ben Verwaayen, BT chief executive, think about it?

3. What divisions are going to be split in BT?

4. Do retail and infrastructure divisions differ somehow?

5. Does BT admit it has to change the way it does business? Explain.

6. What is BT Retail investing in? What does it hope to get?

7. What about BT Wholesale?

8. Are there any problems left with BT?

9. What could BT Retail and Wholesale do if they were separated?

4. Complete the sentences with the information taken from the text.

1. BT Group, the telecoms … , shares several vital organs between its … and … divisions.

2. BT is prohibited from …-… the retail and … divisions.

3. These divisions have differing … patterns, different … and different levels of … .

4. Regulatory pressures and … … have made it harder for BT to extract … or … from the remaining businesses.

5. By investing aggressively in the … … system, BT Retail hopes to … market share from … operators by offering … … over the internet.

6. BT Retail could reduce its … … and lift its … by buying the local loop connections from … … .

7. BT Retail’s … company would be released to sell as much … … as it can, winning enough volume to … … .

5. Explain the following English words and word combinations in your own words.

Operating exchange, retail business, voice and data services, cross-subsidising, demerger, synergies, wi-fi, network traffic, margins, sister company.

6. Decide which of the following statements are right and which are wrong. Give the correct variants.

1. Later this year, BT will learn whether it should be split in five.

2. Ben Verwaayen, BT marketing manager, is for such a move.

3. The model of running the business in tandem is rather popular.

4. BT admits it has to sell off its retail and wholesale divisions.

5. As technology deteriorates, monopoly should push up prices.

6. If BT can adjust to that new business model, it may persuade the government to allow it to dispose of both divisions.