By Kevin Taylor, President, BT Asia, Middle East and Africa & Global Logistics
The markets of Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (AMEA) have had global importance since as far back as the 5th Century, an importance that continues to grow to this day.
Both in trade and natural resources, these areas have always been at the heart of world trade. During the Middle Ages the Silk Road became one of the first trade routes, linking traders, merchants, soldiers, monks, pilgrims and nomads from China to the Mediterranean Sea. This trade route was a cornerstone in the development of the civilizations in the area at the time, forging political and economic interactions between nations.
Today growth continues apace. And it’s with all this in mind that we here at BT start a new phase of investment into the AMEA regions to support this burgeoning growth. Our earlier programmes announced in 2010 for the Asia-Pacific region and the 2012 Turkey, Middle East and Africa investments have given us a strong platform to build on. By unifying these regions together into a single integrated market unit (AMEA) earlier this year, we’re able to better address the needs of a new generation of multinationals.
It’s clear we need a simple and ambitious plan for growth for the AMEA region to meet the region’s changing requirements over the next few years. Today we announced a number of new developments including 400+ new people focused on regional business growth across all key markets. New hires will include industry specialists focused on sectors such as logistics, healthcare, consumer packaged goods and financial services. We’ll also have professional service experts based in 11 countries, as well as deeper domestic coverage, supported by new value added services licenses in various countries.
We’ll also provide better AMEA infrastructure through five new IP and Ethernet Points of Presence and an enhanced satellite capability to support remote coverage and disaster recovery. We’re going to facilitate stronger portfolio capabilities in the fields of security, cloud, unified communications, mobility and contact centres too.
We’re committed to investing and enhancing our capabilities in the AMEA region. In the past year, we’ve launched new offerings and service enhancements to our broad portfolio of services — to help the new generation of regional multinational companies who are looking to us to help them make the most of the global growth opportunities and to support the more established multinationals that are determined to invest for growth in this vast region. We’re keen to help them succeed and reap the benefits of instant globalisation by aligning our investments to their requirements, and providing them with our market-leading portfolio of networked IT services, wherever they need them.
All this is designed to make the most of the macro economic trends common to the emerging markets of AMEA. Firstly, a rising GDP — the emerging markets are expected to generate nearly half of the global growth by 2025. Secondly, a burgeoning middle class — it is estimated that over three billion people will enter the middle class in the next ten years. Finally, they all share a rapidly growing population. Roughly 85 per cent of the world’s population is based in emerging markets, and AMEA is expected to account for 75 per cent by 2030.
Take a look at our video to find out more.
BT in AMEA is poised to help organisations trade and flourish in the region; the Silk Road is repaved and ready to go.
Read more about BT in AMEA.
