Interim Results -Summary

British Telecommunications PLC
11 November 1999

SUMMARY

HALF YEAR RESULTS AND INTERIM REPORT

Chairman's Statement
-------------------------------------------

     The global communications industry is going through a
period of unprecedented structural and technological change.
Against this background we have achieved good growth in many
areas of our business including mobile communications, data
traffic and our international ventures.

     We have also grown earnings per share before exceptional
items and goodwill amortisation by 8.6 per cent in the half
year despite the short-term cost of developing new businesses
and acquiring new mobile customers.

     Over £3 billion has been invested in the half year in our
international ventures and new businesses.  The cost of
achieving full control of BT Cellnet is a further
£3.15 billion.

     Growth prospects in the UK and internationally remain
good but we face increasing competition as the globalisation
of our industry continues.

     The interim dividend of 8.7 pence per share represents an
increase of 7.4 per cent.'

Sir Iain Vallance, 10 November 1999

Review
------
     Earnings per share for the half year were 17.9 pence
based on a profit before tax of £1,662 million. The results
for the first half of last year included the exceptional gain
of £1,133 million on the MCI investment disposal.  Excluding
exceptional items, together with the impact of goodwill
amortisation, BT's earnings per share were 8.6% ahead of last
year.

     Total turnover, including BT's share of its ventures'
turnover, grew by 19.4%.  This growth has been driven by the
explosive demand for mobile communications, our rapidly
growing ventures in Europe and Internet related data traffic.
     Mobile communications turnover in the UK rose by 63%.  BT
Cellnet's customer base grew by 1.43 million in the half year
to 5.95 million.  Turnover from exchange lines rose by 5.2% on
account of the strong demand for business ISDN lines.  Inland
and international call volume growth continued at a high level
in the six months fuelled by calls from BT's fixed network to
mobile networks, Internet traffic and international transit
calls.

     During the half year, BT has completed a number of
acquisitions of businesses or interests in ventures, located
mainly in the USA, Canada and the Asia-Pacific.  The principal
transaction has been the joint acquisition with AT&T of a
30% interest in Japan Telecom for £1.25 billion.

     Capital expenditure on plant, equipment and property
totalled £1,674 million.  Work continues on enhancing the
fixed network to enable customers to benefit from the new wave
communications technologies.

     Good progress continues to be made on the formation of
the 50:50 global venture with AT&T for our trans-border
telecommunication activities to be named Concert.  Final
regulatory clearance was received in October 1999.

Year 2000
---------
     BT has now substantially completed its technical work to
deploy conformant systems and we plan to offer customers
normal levels of service during the transition into the Year
2000 and beyond.  We have identified certain third party risks
and there can be no guarantee that Year 2000 will not affect
our business in a material way.  However, contingency plans
are in place to mitigate the risks on BT which have been built
upon existing incident management and emergency plans and
experience.
     
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GROUP PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
(unaudited)                              6 months ended
                                          September 30
                                       1999         1998
                                         £m           £m
Turnover, including share
of ventures                          10,316        8,642

Group turnover                        9,232        8,200

Share of ventures' losses              (224)        (134)

Profit on sale of fixed asset
investments and group undertakings       90        1,107

Profit before taxation (a)            1,662        2,601

Taxation (b)                           (507)        (768)

Profit after taxation                 1,155        1,833

Minority interests                        4          (13)

Profit attributable to shareholders   1,159        1,820

Interim dividend                        565          523

Earnings per share
- basic                                17.9p        28.3p
- diluted                              17.5p        27.7p

Earnings per share before
exceptional items and goodwill
amortisation
- basic                                17.8p        16.4p
- diluted                              17.4p        16.0p

Interim dividend per share              8.7p         8.1p

(a) Including, in 1999, net exceptional gains of £62 million and
in 1998, net exceptional gains of £1,073 million, mainly
comprising the gain on disposal of MCI investment (£1,133 million
less exceptional costs of £34 million).

(b) Including, in 1999, tax charge of £19 million and, in 1998,
tax of £302 million on exceptional items above.

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GROUP CASH FLOW STATEMENT
(unaudited)                               £m          £m

Inflow from operating activities,
including ventures                     2,854       2,787

Outflow for returns on investments
and servicing of finance                (186)       (288)

Taxation paid                           (250)       (198)

Inflow (outflow) for capital
expenditure and financial investment  (1,859)      2,709

Outflow for acquisitions              (3,156)       (973)

Equity dividends paid                   (799)       (700)

Inflow (outflow) before financing     (3,396)      3,337

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GROUP BALANCE SHEET
                                   30 September      31 March
                                 1999       1998       1999
                                    (unaudited)
                                   £m         £m         £m

Fixed assets                   23,872     19,050     20,428

Current assets                  6,801      7,811      7,534

Current liabilities            (8,699)    (6,480)    (8,029)
                               ------     ------     ------
Net current assets
(liabilities)                  (1,898)     1,331       (495)
                               ------     ------     ------
Total assets less current
liabilities                    21,974     20,381     19,933
                               ======     ======     ======
Creditors: amounts falling
due after one year              4,188      3,608      3,386

Provisions for liabilities
and charges                     1,550      2,053      1,391

Minority interests                636        210        216

Capital and reserves           15,600     14,510     14,940
                               ------     ------     ------
                               21,974     20,381     19,933
                               ======     ======     ======

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Notes
-----
1    This statement has been prepared in accordance with the
accounting policies in the statutory accounts for the year ended
31 March 1999.

2    The figures for the year ended 31 March 1999 are extracts
from these accounts.  A copy of the full accounts for that year,
on which the auditors have issued an unqualified report, has been
delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

3    The interim dividend will be paid on 14 February 2000 to
shareholders on the BT register on 6 January 2000, which is also
the last date for lodging mandates for the BT dividend investment
plan.

If you have any queries as a shareholder please call 0808 100
4141.  Further information about BT, these financial results and
Year 2000 third party risks may be found on the Internet at
www.bt.com/shares.

British Telecommunications plc
81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ

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INDEPENDENT REVIEW REPORT TO BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC

Introduction
------------
     We have been instructed by the company to review the
financial information as set out in the tables and we have
read the other information contained in the interim report for
any apparent misstatementments or material inconsistencies
with the financial information.

Directors' responsibilities
---------------------------
     The interim report, including the financial information
contained therein, is the responsibility of, and has been
approved by the directors.  The Listing Rules of the London
Stock Exchange require that the accounting policies and
presentation applied to the interim figures should be
consistent with those applied in preparing the preceding
annual accounts except where any changes, and the reasons for
them, are disclosed.

Review work performed
---------------------
     We conducted our review in accordance with the guidance
contained in Bulletin 1999/4 issued by the Auditing Practices
Board.  A review consists principally of making enquiries of
group management and applying analytical procedures to the
financial information and underlying financial data and, based
thereon, assessing whether the accounting policies and
presentation have been consistently applied unless otherwise
disclosed.  A review excludes audit procedures such as tests
of controls and verification of assets, liabilities and
transactions.  It is substantially less in scope than an audit
performed in accordance with Auditing Standards and therefore
provides a lower level of assurance than an audit.
Accordingly we do not express an audit opinion on the
financial information.

Review conclusion
-----------------
     On the basis of our review we are not aware of any
material modifications that should be made to the financial
information as presented for the six months ended 30 September
1999.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chartered Accountants
London, 10 November 1999