BT - NHS contract win

BT Group PLC
19 February 2004


                                                               February 19, 2004

            BT TO DEVELOP NEW NATIONAL NETWORK FOR THE NHS

BT welcomed the announcement by the Department of Health that it had been
awarded the leading role in a 7 year contract, worth an estimated £530m to
procure, integrate and manage networking services for the New National Network
for the NHS.

The innovative, integrated network, known as the New National Network, will
provide the infrastructure foundations for the NHS National Programme for IT
across England. BT will source network connections from a range of network
providers who have competed on price and value, and will be responsible for the
end-to-end integration of the network and the overall service it provides.
The infrastructure will deliver the vital NHS Care Records Service to clinicians
and medical practitioners, connecting the Local Service Provider (LSP) regional
IT networks into one standardised system, which will benefit both patients and
medical staff.

Using high-speed broadband connectivity, the New National Network will support
the one of the largest intranets in Europe, catering for the huge data flow
within the NHS. It will not only save costs, but the compatibility of the
systems will deliver efficiencies to directly benefit patients.

Ben Verwaayen, BT's Chief Executive Officer, said:

"This win is further evidence of the changing face of BT. Binding together a
network of this scale is a big challenge, but network integration is one of the
things we do well and our successful management of the existing NHSnet has
already shown that we can deliver. Our aim is to provide world class networking
services to the NHS. We will deliver the network by co-ordinating a strong
alliance of technology providers.".

The increased bandwidth will open up a host of new opportunities to the 18,000
NHS sites in England. GP surgeries, primary care trusts and hospitals will
benefit from faster, secure access and the ability to share and view large data
files, patient records, video links and visual materials, such as x-rays. This
will enable greater co-operation between different parts of the NHS and faster,
more efficient patient treatment. For example, patients can receive the
convenience of local specialist advice and treatment instead of the
inconvenience of travelling a distance to specialist centres. The highest
quality images and video examinations can be sent to specialists who conduct the
diagnosis remotely.

The network will also be designed for future expansion, so that over time other
healthcare professionals, including dentists, pharmacists, opticians and social
services, will be able to access the network.

                                    - ends -
For more information, please contact:
the BT Newsroom on its 24-hour number, tel: [phone]
Barry Murphy, BT Syntegra, tel: [phone], or mobile: [phone]

Notes to editors

A BT-led group of network providers will deliver the New National Network. BT
will provide end-to-end integration and service management and procure network
connectivity and other services from the other providers.

BT is playing a major role in £5 billion national programme to modernise the NHS
IT systems. It was awarded the ten year London Local Service Provider contract
worth up to £996 million last December and a £620 million ten-year contract for
the national patient record database. The contracts were won by a 300 strong bid
team led by BT Syntegra and including BT Retail, BT Wholesale and BT Global
Services.

London Local Service Provider: As the local service provider for London, BT will
design, deliver and operate integrated local patient record applications and
systems for the whole of the London care community through BT Syntegra, its
systems integration subsidiary. It will work with a number of companies with
world class experience in the development, deployment and operation of
healthcare systems. BT has yet to announce which firms it is working with.

National patient record database: The national patient record database will hold
electronic summary patient records. These secure records will be shared
nationally with clinicians and medical practitioners dependent on their
authority. Patients will no longer be required to repeat information about their
medical history at different stages of the care process. By ensuring that the
right information about a patient is in the right place at the right time, the
solution will help the NHS extract great value from its investments and deliver
a better service. Working in association with BT on the project will be Oracle,
Sun Microsystems and LogicaCMG.

BT
BT Group plc is the listed holding company for an integrated group of businesses
providing voice, data and video services in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
British Telecommunications plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group, holds
virtually all businesses and assets of the BT group.

BT is one of Europe's leading providers of telecommunications services. Its
principal activities include local, national and international
telecommunications services, higher-value broadband and internet products and
services, and IT solutions.

In the UK, BT serves over 20 million business and residential customers with
more than 29 million exchange lines, as well as providing network services to
other licensed operators.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:

BT Retail, serving businesses and residential customers and including BT
Openworld, one of the UK's leading ISPs.

BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK, including
ADSL, conveyance, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits, frame relay and
ISDN connections.

BT Global Services, BT's managed services and solutions provider, serving
multi-site organisations worldwide. Its core target market is the top 10,000
global multi-site organisations with European operations.

There are a number of other businesses within the BT group, including BT Exact,
an internationally renowned centre of excellence in IT and networking
technologies. It is also BT's technology and research and development business.

In the year ended 31 March 2003, BT's turnover was £18,727m. with profit before
taxation of £1,829m.

For more information, visit www.bt.com.



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