BT Surftime - Internet Access & No Hidden Charges

British Telecommunications PLC
8 March 2000




       BT SURFTIME PROVIDES CHOICE IN INTERNET ACCESS
                              
                   WITH NO HIDDEN CHARGES
                              
BT today unveiled further details of SurfTime, its range of

options for residential and business customers to access the

Internet with no hidden charges.

     BT's SurfTime will provide access to any Internet

service provider (ISP) which offers service at the end of an

0844 telephone number, so there is no tie to a particular

service provider.   Some ISPs may make further charges for

use of their services and BT will provide optional billing

services to ISPs. Dial-up Internet access always requires an

exchange line, and BT's charges as outlined below include

line rentals.

     Three SurfTime options cater for the needs of different

users, as follows (all monthly charges below including rental

of an ordinary exchange line):

*    Residential customers who are occasional Net users

     Charges are £9.26 per month for line rental (which can

also be used for telephone calls) plus 1p per minute during

the day, 0.6p per minute in the evening and 0.5p per minute

at the weekend.  (All prices include VAT).

*    Residential customers who are evening and weekend Net

users

     At £15.25 per month, unmetered Internet usage is

available every evening and all weekend, and customers also

receive up to 80 minutes of inclusive voice calls.   If the

net is accessed during the daytime, charges are 1p per

minute.  In the US, typical customers with similar Internet

usage patterns would pay around £5 per month more in total.

With BT Together, customers will pay £17.98 per month for

unmetered Internet usage plus up to 200 minutes of inclusive

voice calls. (All prices include VAT).

*    'Round the clock' residential and business Net users

     At £29.25 per month (inc. VAT) for residential customers

and £29.74 per month (ex.VAT) for business customers,

unmetered Internet usage is available seven days per week and

24 hours per day.  For consumers, such charges are directly

comparable to US prices and for business customers BT

believes its charges are significantly lower than those

typical in the US.

     Moving from ordinary narrowband lines to higher speed

Highway lines, monthly charges for Home and Business Highway

with Internet access speeds up to 128k are £17.74 (inc.VAT)

per month more than narrowband for  residential customers and

£16.60 (ex. VAT) per month more than narrowband for business

customers.  Shortly, BT will announce retail prices which

will enable Internet users to have access at even faster

rates with BT's broadband service.

     These prices are substantially lower than those

indicated in BT's original announcement (December 7, 2000),

through the adoption of a pricing model similar to that which

predominates in the USA, where the telephone company charges

customers to take an Internet access call as far as the local

exchange.  ISPs then have a variety of options for connecting

to, and charging for, their services.

     Under SurfTime, the total cost of accessing the Internet

will consist of a telephony charge, along with any charges

that ISPs may wish to charge for connection to their service,

and provision of content.

     Unlike the USA, where business calls to the Internet are

normally paid for on a metered basis, SurfTime packages will

be available both to business and residential customers.

     Peter MacLeod, managing director of BT UK Markets, said:

'Our analysis of the Internet market in the UK shows that 40

million people and every business and every Government

department can gain real benefit from using the net.  BT

SurfTime is a crucial step to make this happen as it opens up

wonderful, and often amazing, opportunities to exploit the

net for an attractive and economical price.   BT SurfTime is

the next step for the net generation.'

     BT's target date for the introduction of SurfTime is

June 1, 2000. Appropriate interconnect components will be

announced shortly.