Joint Venture

Eckoh Technologies PLC
12 February 2003





                                                                12 February 2003



                        Eckoh and Auctionworld launch 24-hour

                       TV Phone Shopping Channel "Phoneworld"



•        Phoneworld provides an exclusive and dedicated distribution channel for
Eckoh Technologies' Phones Express division

•        Phoneworld's call centre adopts Eckoh Technologies' Speech Solution
product for 24-hour, automated order and transaction processing



Eckoh Technologies, Europe's leading Speech Solutions provider, in collaboration
with Auctionworld, the TV home-shopping specialists, have successfully launched
Phoneworld, the UK's first 24-hour TV phone shopping channel.



Phoneworld, which is broadcast on Sky Digital channel 666, will feature
round-the-clock promotions of a wide variety of mobile phones and accessory
packages on exclusive tariff plans at heavily discounted prices. The bespoke
packages are created, supplied and fulfilled on an exclusive basis by Eckoh's
mobile wholesale division, Phones Express. The channel will also feature new
mobile content and services as well as showcasing new technical innovations
coming out of the mobile phone industry.



Phones Express have been successfully running comparable promotions on the
Auctionworld channel for several months, which has led to a significant increase
in monthly connections and year-on-year revenues. Phoneworld will operate as an
additional distribution medium to Auctionworld and will not only deliver several
times the number of monthly promotions that have run historically but will also
promote a broader range of models, packages and tariffs.



End-to-end speech recognition order and transaction processing



Phoneworld is also unique as respondents are handled entirely automatically by a
speech application that has been devised, built and hosted by Eckoh's Speech
Solutions division. The service uses speech recognition to provide an end-to-end
solution to process the transaction and deliver complete customer data to the
fulfilment house.



Callers firstly enter the product code they are interested in, and then speak
their name and address details, which are automatically verified by Eckoh's
Postcode Reader product, and finally leave their credit or debit card details
using Eckoh's Credit Card Processing product which gives instant secure
authorisation. This significantly reduces the costs of transaction processing
and fulfilment, ensures that all calls can be handled instantly no matter how
high the call volume and means that orders can be processed quickly at any time
of the day or night.



Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer at Eckoh Technologies, said:

"Phoneworld is a fantastic opportunity for Eckoh as it gives our mobile
wholesale division Phones Express the first 24-hour TV platform for any mobile
phone retailer in the country. Mobile phones are getting increasingly complex to
sell and television is the perfect environment for walking the consumer through
the benefits and features of the latest models and services that are available.
We feel confident that this additional distribution channel for Phones Express
will have a significant revenue impact in the coming months."



George Spitaliotis, Managing Director at Auctionworld and Phoneworld adds: "
Following the huge demand for mobile phone packages on Auctionworld, we realised
there was a gap in the market for a dedicated phone shopping channel and Eckoh
were our natural partners to help create this. We also required an end-to-end
product ordering service capable of streamlining customer communications, and
Eckoh has been able to provide a turnkey service that has minimised the
additional investment into customer service and leaves our agents to devote
their time to their most valuable tasks of helping customers with problems or
verifying orders."



-ends-

For further enquiries, please contact


Eckoh Technologies plc
Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer

Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer
www.eckoh.com                                                 Tel: [phone]


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






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 on television, and is one of the
largest independent distributors in the UK



In the year to 31 March 2002, Eckoh generated turnover of £54.9m.



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 Phoneworld



Phoneworld is a division of Auctionworld limited.



Auctionworld was founded at the beginning of 2001, going live on the Sky
platform in November of the same year. The company's head office is based in
Hertfordshire, with a 2nd logistics facility in Cambridgeshire to cope with the
fast expansion of the business.



Phoneworld is recorded from the award winning Teddington Studios in South West
London, home to many of the UK's leading shows and productions.








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