Quote:
Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
One example is BT, they employ far less people, are far more productive per head and have lower fault rates than at any time when they were a public company.
|
Which is mostly related to the change in technology since they went private. Everyone is now on highly reliable digital exchanges (System X, AXE 10) - and the main switching hubs across the UK are all digitally interconnected now. The old Mechanical strowger exchanges needed far more manpower, and were much more prone to faults. The first electronic exchanges (TXE2, TXE4) were more reliable, but still prone to problems, and still required more manpower than digital. Even a lot of the old copper cable is now slowly being phased out in favour of optical, again, more reliable.
(Some of Nottinghams digital exchanges are now over 21 years old, I know, I help convert a fair few of them).