Telecoms ring up record profits

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Subscribe! THE announcement of British Telecom's record 6-monthly profits from April to September 1982 (which trebled from {89m to {268m) alongside their decision to delay the 3% increase in charges from April to July 1983 has to be seen in the light of the future privatisation of BT.

Firstly the profits figure - £268m - is not by any means the full picture. It is estimated that the full year's profits will amount to around £540m, $82m above the 1981/82 figure.

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Yet one has to consider what profits would have been made in the recent period if BT (to attract business customers) had not cut the cost of international and inland trunk calls which in the words of Chairperson Jefferson 'will save customers £340m in a full year.' That decision in effect has meant that BT instead of making £540m in a full year could have made £880m, plus the extra from the now postponed 3% increase in charges.

Charges for directory enquiries were and still are a feature of this next increase. Yet this alone is not the full picture.

The 1982 profits are declared at £457.8m. But on closer analysis the figures turns out to be well over £l billion.

This is arrived at by ing: a) £541m which BT puts aside to cover inflation on equipment replacement. b) £127m the 'accelerated depreciation charges' on telephone equipment. c) £50m from changes in accounting policies.

Also there is the f½ billion spent on interest payments.

Scheme

There has also been the deliberate underfunding of the Post Office superannuation scheme to help lund investment,. which means that B1 is now having to pay off the £1,250m still owing out of an initial debt to the fund of £8 billion.

Where have these huge profits come from?

calls, though only 2.1% of the telephone traffic, account for 48% of the profits, netting £218.5m.

300 companies contributed 30% of BT's income of £1,712.34m.

But the 1983 Report will show a turnaround, in which residential customers will be contributing an increased percentage of the profits.

The cuts of Jefferson quotes ar essence to help and the business customer When increases in Charges were last made (November 1981) it was an estimated increase of 13.4% for residential users compared with 6.8% for the average business user. The November 1981 increases have effectively meant a public handout to big business of £56m.

Telecommunications itself is an almost unique industrial area of growth. And the field in which demand is rising the fastest - international calls -can be provided at a fraction of the cost. The present charging structure according to the same economists is"-based on historic costings which bear no relationship to current technology.

Another area in which BT has profited is being able to reduce its workJefferson stated:

'Increased efficiency and encouraging business growth despite the recession have played their part in securing this favourable half-year outcome.' Extra The workforce has been reduced by more than 4,500 while at the same time attracting an extra 425,000 subscribers.

The target is offici lly 'lose' 15,000 jobs o ver years — a leaked Department of Industry circular is calling for a reduction of 45,000 by 1987.

Women (77,000 are employed by BT) are first in the firing line, mainly because of job segregation, while the jobs they dominate (telephonists, clerical staff, etc.) are as ripe for new technology in the next 10 years.

The 6-month profit works out to £10m a week - with 250,000 employees that works out to £40,000 per week per employee.

Last year telephonists, got a 6.75% increase: given the present leadership in the UCW they are not likely to get much more this year.

Decent

But workers in BT áre even less likely to • get a decent wage whe en it's privatised.

The response of POEU General: Secretary Bryan Stanley "to the profits does not help:

'The Government's proposal to privatise BT is an enormous irrelevance for British Telecommunications. These latest results show why such changes are totally unnecessary.

But it's that its very profitability - far from ensuring employment and prosperity for BT workers - is what encourages the Tories to privatise the industry and threatens jobs.

Ann McKinley

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by Ann McKin