BT targets SME market with Basilica buy

BT has strengthened its grip on the small and mid-sized business market after snapping up Basilica Computing, a small IT company that specialises in providing services to customers with 50 to 1,000 employees.

BT has stepped up its efforts to target the small business market this year, launching a multimillion- pound advertising campaign featuring Gordon Ramsay and a social networking site targeted at small businesses.

There are around 4.3 million businesses in the UK, the vast majority of which are small companies with fewer than 50 employees. Large companies such as BT have struggled to make headway in the £20bn-a-year market providing IT services to small companies due to its fragmented nature.

BT has paid £24m for the Hertfordshire-based Basilica. BT said it estimates that the acquisition will strengthen its attack in a market segment worth £5.3bn a year.

BT has been adding small IT companies to its stable over the past few years, mostly to boost the functionality and global reach of its BT Global Services division. The Basilica deal has been made by BT Business, a unit of its BT Retail division, as BT drives down into the small business market.

Angel Dobardziev, an analyst with Ovum, said: "This is another piece of the growth jigsaw for BT."

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