money.cnn.com/2008/10/08/news/economy/globalbummer_meht -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 10/9/2008
Last Visited: 10/9/2008
"For the last 3 ½ to 4 months I've been asking people to operate as if we were going into a recession," said Ian Livingston, CEO of BT (BT), the telecom company that ranks 116 on the Fortune Global 500 listing of the world's largest corporations."I wasn't anticipating things would be as bad as they are."
Livingston, whose company provides phone, video and broadband services, says the company certainly will feel an impact from a sustained economic downturn: If people don't have jobs, they will spend less on communications services.
Same with smaller companies: no credit means businesses don't expand, which translates into fewer data and phone services for BT to sell.Livingston is even guarded when he talks about BT's bright spot, sales to corporate customers.
Though BT last quarter said orders from big customers remain strong, "if big companies get hit hard they will pull back," he acknowledged.