Strategic Partnership with Halifax Group

British Telecommunications PLC
16 February 2000


                             
    BT AND BT CELLNET ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH
        HALIFAX GROUP TO DEVELOP 21ST CENTURY BANKING

* BT and BT Cellnet are developing a full range of banking
capabilities for the Halifax  Group, including use on mobile
devices, the Internet and interactive TV

* Halifax is the first UK bank to announce it will be
utilising BT Cellnet's GPRS services

BT and BT Cellnet today announced its strategic partnership
with Halifax Group Plc to provide banking capabilities for
use on the Internet, interactive TV, mobile phones and other
mobile devices that will allow its customers to bank at any
time, at any place.  Halifax customers will be able to view
balances and transactions, transfer funds and pay bills via
mobile phones, laptops and other mobile devices.  The first
of these new services will be rolled out in Summer 2000 with
SMS text messaging and WAP banking, followed by GPRS
services in the Autumn.

Halifax has recently announced its new Internet strategy,
which includes the launch of its dedicated online banking
service later in the year.  For Halifax's 21 million
customers, BT and BT Cellnet are developing one of the most
comprehensive long-term strategic plans for the financial
services market.  The programme will enable the Halifax to
offer its customers a full range of options for banking, and
streamline and improve internal communications, develop
marketing applications and flexible working initiatives.

BT and BT Cellnet will supply the entire Halifax Group with
the facilities for customers to bank at home or on the move.
BT Cellnet's SMS (Short Messaging Service), WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol) and GPRS (General Packet Radio
Services) services will provide the Halifax with a wide range
of mobile services using these new and soon to be released
technologies.  BT Internet is currently developing
multimedia and Internet banking services to the Halifax
based on its ADSL technology, and will allow the banking
group to adopt new multimedia marketing techniques.  BT has
already been involved in the development of Halifax's
website.

BT Cellnet's WAP service, which was launched in January
2000, will provide full banking facilities for mobile
devices to Halifax customers and will be further enhanced
with the launch of GPRS.  GPRS will provide an 'always on,
24 hour a day' service for access to banking and financial
information with ISDN-like speeds to mobile devices such as
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and laptops, without the
cost of being always connected.  This can also deliver
marketing applications which Halifax can direct at their
customer base.  These technologies will give Halifax a
platform to deliver new banking services for the next ten
years and beyond.

Peter Erskine, managing director of BT Cellnet, commented,
'The face of banking is rapidly changing, and it is being
driven by technology and mobile communications
developments.'

James Crosby, chief executive of Halifax Group Plc.,
commented, 'We are using the new channels to build
businesses, which directly attack the competition. Setting
the pace in mobile banking in partnership with BT and BT
Cellnet is a key part of this strategy.