Change is inevitable, but an individual company's ability to keep up is anything but. There are thick binders full of case studies about companies that once ruled their respective roost only to be kicked out of the nest when the world changed and they didn't. Count England's BT Group (NYSE:BT) as one of those fighting to adapt to the new world of telecom services.

What's going on in BT's home market really isn't all that different from what's happened (or is happening) in many other telecom markets. Mobile phones changed the business a while back and now incumbents are facing increased competition in their fixed-line operations as well. Like many others, BT is fighting this with more advanced service offerings (broadband, IPTV, etc.) and expanding into businesses like IT services.

And for now, at least, they seem to be staying ahead of the tiger. Revenue was up more than 6% this fiscal fourth quarter, with organic revenue growth of about 5%. Moreover, revenue from what the company calls "new wave" businesses rose 28% and comprised more than a third of the total. Profitability wasn't so hot -- pre-tax income was up 4%, net income was down 11% -- but EBITDA was up 1% and the board saw fit to up the dividend.

BT Group certainly isn't the only European telecom company to be seeing some big changes -- you could certainly add Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) and France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) to that list, and probably just about any other publicly traded telecom. And though I'd expect there will be ups and downs during the transition, BT seems to have a plan that at least passes the initial sniff test.

When it comes to the stock, I don't have a really solid conviction one way or another. But as long as you view the story as a long-term income play rather than a growth story, it could be worth a closer look.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).