From phones to football: The changing strategic focus of BT

•Charts the evolution of the provision of Internet access services by BT.•Demonstrates the significant investment made by BT in content.•Illustrates the complementarities that exist between infrastructure and investment.•Highlights the significant financial contribution of Openreach to BT’s overall profitability. For over a decade BT has been investing significant sums to shift its focus away from the provision of voice telephony towards the Internet. This shift is epitomised by the widespread availability of broadband and the company’s purchase of the rights to broadcast English Premier League football games. This paper argues that its dominance in the voice telephony market funded its initial expansion into these new markets, and that broadband and sports content are mutually supportive lines of business. The paper also highlights the significant contribution that Openreach makes to the overall profitability of BT, and the challenges that exist as a result.