Contract Win

Eckoh Technologies PLC
29 May 2003


                                                                  29 May 2003


                             Eckoh Technologies plc

  Eckoh Technologies signs exclusive 5-year contract with Twenty First Century
                 Communications, Inc. for the UK utility market


Eckoh Technologies plc ("Eckoh"), Europe's leading speech application provider,
today announced that it has signed an exclusive 5-year contract with Twenty
First Century Communications, Inc., of the USA to host the company's High Volume
Call Answering (HVCA(R)) service in the UK market.

Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. currently work with over 70 US
electric utility clients covering over 60 million customer meters in the North
American marketplace.  The HVCA(R) service has been developed and refined over
14 years and in 2002 processed over 20 million successful power cut calls.

The HVCA(R) service will be re-deployed for the UK market supported by Eckoh who
will exclusively host and manage the call handling platform on behalf of Twenty
First Century Communications, Inc. The HVCA(R) service will for the first time
provide UK electricity distributors with the ability to automatically process
large volumes of calls resulting from power cuts.  The service allows callers to
inform their electricity provider that they are experiencing a power cut,
enables the capability of providing specific messages regarding the effected
area, estimated restoration times by area, and includes call back options to
confirm power restoration, as well as numerous other proven features.

Jim Hennigan, Managing Director of Speech Solutions at Eckoh Technologies,
comments:

" We are delighted to have been chosen by a recognized market leader like Twenty
First Century Communications, Inc. to host its highly successful HVCA(R) service
for the UK and Ireland marketplaces.  This exclusive contract is another
endorsement of our technology and product offering and the 5-year term
demonstrates our commitment to building a successful long term partnership in
this high growth sector.

The ability to terminate large volumes of calls in the event of power cuts is
only feasible via a large hosted solution like Eckoh's and reinforces our
strategy of providing hosted services on this scale. Twenty First Century
Communications, Inc. have a proven track record in the US and we are looking
forward to replicating that success in the UK."



Thomas Calabro, Senior Vice President - Sales and Marketing, for Twenty First
Century Communications, Inc., explains:

"Based on our extensive experience in the North American marketplace, we knew
exactly what we were looking for in an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and ASR
(Advanced Speech Recognition) service bureau partner for the UK.  Eckoh
Technologies thoroughly impressed us.  First, Eckoh Technologies has reached
critical mass in its equipment, facilities, technical talent, and performance.
Second, we are confident they are in a strong position to continue to grow with
us to serve the UK and then Europe.  Third, they are highly responsive,
fast-moving, and focused on customer needs."

In the UK marketplace, Eckoh Technologies will host the HVCA(R) application and
provide HVCA(R) with advanced speech recognition technology to identify UK Post
Codes and addresses such that callers can be uniquely identified when they
report their power cuts.




For further enquiries, please contact

Eckoh Technologies plc
Kirsten Nevile                                              Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

Twenty First Century Communications, Inc
Thomas Calabro                                          Tel: [phone],
[e-mail]                                                 Ext. 224

Buchanan Communications
Jeremy Garcia/Fergus Mellon                                 Tel: [phone]



Notes to Editors

About Eckoh Technologies

Eckoh Technologies plc provides a complete managed service for large
corporations and organisations using Advanced IVR (interactive voice response)
and Speech Recognition technologies. It has secured contracts to supply hosted
services to clients including Virgin Mobile, Centrica, William Hill and the
RNIB, and owns the largest speech-enabled call-processing platform in Europe.

In January 2003, Eckoh began an exclusive alliance with BT to provide hosted
solutions to BT's corporate client base over the next 2 years.  This landmark
contract positions Eckoh as the European leader in the hosted speech solutions
market. Eckoh also operates the following businesses:

• IVR - Eckoh is one of the largest providers of managed IVR services in the UK
to media clients including Granada, Channel 4, Chrysalis, EMAP, Johnston Press
and Cartoon Network, with the capacity to process over 250,000 calls per hour

• Network Services - under the "Symphony Telecom" brand, Eckoh supplies fixed
line and mobile telephony services to over 6,000 businesses in the UK and
Ireland

• Mobile Wholesale - under the "Phones Express" brand, Eckoh supplies mobile
telephone handsets and airtime packages to consumers promoted via marketing in
print and through home shopping channels such as 'Phoneworld' which can be seen
on Sky Digital.  Phones Express is one of the largest independent distributors
in the UK

In the year to 31 March 2003, Eckoh generated turnover of £55.1m.

To hear a demonstration of Eckoh Technologies' speech recognition product range,
please dial 08701 100 600. Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com or
contact us by dialling 08701 100 200



About Twenty First Century Communications, Inc.

Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. is an Ohio-based privately held
corporation founded in 1989.  It serves more than 70 major utility clients in
North America, including 8 of the 10 largest electric utilities in the USA.



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