A little like oom really from my point of view - I believe they are the favoured company within their sector and despite the markets - Oftel and the G3 nonsense they will climb back. They pay a divi and this wioll be seen to be increasingly important in the days to come. They have new management and are looking to enhance shareholder value .....

I hold and swing trade a few and not adverse to intraday trading them.

ains


BT in web-based investor relations drive

London, February 7 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

BT is launching a web-based scheme which it hopes will improve communications with its retail shareholders and help cut costs.


Dubbed 'ShareholderPlus', the system allows investors to sign up and receive BT communications - such as reports, news releases, mandates and, subject to a change in the law, electronic tax vouchers - by email, rather than by post.

BT said this will help it achieve cost savings - by not having to print and despatch reports - and pointed out that it is also good for the environment.

Furthermore, it has negotiated a number of deals with companies such as Virgin Wines, Apollo Travel, RSA and National Car Rental, to market the service and said it will add new offers in the future if it proves to be a success.

BT claims to be one of the first FTSE100 companies to launch such a programme, though it is likely that more will follow.

www.btplc.com/shareholderplus

Broadband has to be one of BT's major platforms and will increasingly become a must have in the home and at work

ains



BT grows broadband base by 100,000 in January

London, February 7 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

BT now appears to be on track to attract 1m wholesale broadband subscribers by summer after the head of BT Retail said about 100,000 new high speed internet connections were activated in the month of January.


The surge in demand since the beginning of the year has taken BT's overall broadband subscriber base to more than 500,000, and BT Retail CEO Pierre Danon believes it will be "relatively easy" to achieve its short-term goal of 1m connections.

However, he said the tough part will be ensuring that 5m homes are hooked up to the high speed internet by 2006.

This is further complicated by the fact that Danon believes there is no single 'killer app' for broadband, as people will use different services depending on their interests and needs.

BT also said it is selling in the region of 10,000 units of its no-frills self-install broadband product every week, which retails at 27 per month. Danon expects that level of pricing to remain in place this year, but said that it could come down in the future.

www.bt.com

BT hits half-million broadband mark
15:46 Friday 7th February 2003
Reuters


The telecoms giant is on the way to reaching its target of a million broadband users by the middle of the summer as it signs up another 100,000 users
BT says around 100,000 more broadband Internet users had hooked up to its network in January, giving it over 500,000 in total and putting it on target for one million by mid-year.

BT stock was Europe's top telecoms gainer, rising 3.3 percent to 179-3/4 pence, with investors encouraged by the success of its drive to boost high-speed Internet adoption. The stock is also seen as a relatively safe bet if war breaks out in Iraq because of its steady and largely domestic income stream.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT's retail operation, said on Friday that getting to one million users would be relatively easy compared with reaching a long-term goal of having five million homes on the service by 2006.

He said monthly high-speed Internet prices of between 27 and 30 could eventually come down, but not in the short term.

"If you asked me: will this be your price for three years, perhaps not," he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a breakfast meeting of executives in London. "Is it the right price for the coming year? Yes."

BT sells wholesale broadband access to its own Internet service provider, Openworld, as well as other ISPs. BT Retail has also started selling a cut-rate "no frills" broadband product for 27 per month.

Danon would not comment on the exact sales figures for this product, but said it was broadly in line with the 10,000 connections a week BT had targeted.

As broadband becomes more common, BT hopes to make additional sales such as online music and gaming services, a wireless LAN (local area network) product that will "wire-up" the entire home, and even a home monitoring service that will send a text message if the house alarm system goes off.

A portable "Internet radio", as well as standard stereo systems which can play music downloaded from the Web, will go on sale within the next three months, Danon told the breakfast meeting hosted by corporate venture consultancy Edengene.

BT was also working with Britain's Pearson, the world's leading educational publisher, to develop educational applications for fast Internet in the home.

Danon said he didn't believe there would be one "killer application" that drove broadband take-up, but instead a variety of services that suited different people.

BT will report its third-quarter results next Thursday.

Must admit I am just upgrading my computers and wanting to get into wireless network ..... I want to sit in the garden with the laptop and without the trailing cable ... just been waiting on the standards being sorted


ains


802.11g connects with broadband users
13:16 Tuesday 4th February 2003
Matthew Broersma


Analysis: Equipment using a faster wireless LAN spec is now available in the UK, and an early product shows promise for broadband users, according to ZDNet UK Labs

The 802.11g wireless networking standard has not been approved yet, but that hasn't stopped manufacturers from beginning to release 802.11g equipment. For consumers and businesses interested in upgrading to 802.11g's 54Mbps speeds, some of the new equipment may be worth a second look, according to new tests from ZDNet UK Labs.

Reviewers examined the Buffalo AirStation WBR-G54, one of the first pieces of 802.11g equipment, and found that it performed well. Even with a PC 50 metres from the base station, the connection delivered well over twice the bandwidth of current 802.11b, or "Wi-Fi", networks.

test

A new product called "bread" has hit the streets. Get some fast.

edit: would never have known about BT if I hadn't seen ainsoph's post! Thanks ainsoph, where HAVE they being hiding this one ;-)

FORTUNE TELLER

GUY DIXON


SEVERAL of the biggest names on the London market will test investor confidence this week, with results due from the likes of BT, BP, GlaxoSmithKline and the first of the big players from the banking sector.


Telecoms group BT will be under pressure on Thursday to show it can get somewhere near the ambitious targets set in April of 6% to 8% revenues growth over the following three years.

In BTs last update in November, revenues edged ahead 2% in the six months to September 30 and analysts are not expecting spectacular figures this time around.

The market is likely to be looking for third-quarter pre-tax profits of 423m, up from 381m last time, as well as an encouraging update on the take-up of BTs much-heralded broadband offering.

BT Q3 profit seen up
By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent


LONDON (Reuters) - BT (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) is expected to report a rise in third-quarter earnings this Thursday, under a cloud of worries about growing competitive threats and the state of its pension fund in a slumping equity ADVERTISEMENT

market.


Ben Verwaayen had barely settled in to his new London office overlooking St. Paul's Cathedral when the new BT chief executive had to preside over the last set of third-quarter results.


The country's dominant telecom group had just suffered months of major upheaval, selling businesses as well as a record-breaking tranche of shares to cut a 30 billion-pound debt mountain by more than half.


Verwaayen, whose arrival was seen as the start of better times, had little specific to offer at last year's third-quarter results. But his plan for "substantially" cheaper high-speed Internet access would set the tone for BT's year.


Analysts do not expect next week's third-quarter results to prove momentous. But Verwaayen, as head of a business focused mostly on the less exciting but steadier UK domestic market, will be under pressure to deliver signs of growth in both earnings and the number of broadband Internet users.


"If boring and steady means it is on track to meet its targets, then that is a good thing," said David Brundish, telecoms analyst at JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM_pj - news) .


Verwaayen promised last April to deliver compound annual growth of 25 percent in earnings per share (EPS) and six to eight percent growth in revenue in the three years to 2005. However, he had to abandon the latter target three months ago when it became clear it may prove too ambitious.


Analysts expect revenue for the quarter to December of between 4.76 billion and 4.83 billion pounds, representing at the high-end growth of less than four percent over the third quarter last year.


Forecasts for earnings per share range from 3.5 pence to 4.0 pence, up from 2.4p last year, thanks to cost cutting and its debt reduction drive, which helped lower interest payments. Pre-tax profit estimates range from 460 million to 530 million pounds, compared with 381 million a year ago.


HOW MUCH NEED FOR SPEED?


BT slashed the wholesale price of broadband in half last April to less than 15 pounds per month, as part of a goal to have one million broadband customers on its network by mid-2003 and somewhere around five million by 2006.


Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said on Friday that more than 100,000 broadband users had signed up to BT's network in January, putting the total at well over half a million.


But with cable rivals NTL (NYSE: NLI - news) and Telewest (LSE: TWT.L - news) clawing their way out of financial crisis, BT has formidable competition for broadband access. NTL and Telewest, though their networks pass by just over half of Britain's homes, boast more than three quarters of a million broadband users in total.


BT's traditional market for voice calls is also under threat from two strong retail players: number one UK supermarket Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news - msgs) and Europe's largest mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW.L - news) . Both recently announced plans to sell home phone services as well.


Furthermore, analysts have wondered for months how much BT will have to contribute to its pension fund to make up for stock market losses. Opinion is divided on the potential impact, but they agree that the uncertainty is weighing on the shares.


"Apart from exceptional Q3 results, the positive trigger towards our target price is more likely to come when the latest valuation of BT's pension deficit is published in May," SG Securities analyst Steve Trowbridge said of his 230p target.


BT shares were up two percent at 177 1/2 pence on Friday afternoon. The stock has lost about a fifth of its value over the past 12 months, but outperformed European peers in the DJ Stoxx European telecoms index by five percent in that time.

BT poised to soothe pension worries
By Robert Budden, Telecommunications Correspondent
Published: February 10 2003 4:00 | Last Updated: February 10 2003 4:00

BT Group will seek this week to allay investor concerns over its mounting pensions deficit when it unveils third-quarter results on Thursday.


Investors are worried that the telecommunications operator's growing pension shortfall could force it to radically accelerate how much money it injects into its pension scheme.

BT is currently committed to pay 200m a year into its pension to make up its shortfall which, at the end of 2001, was calculated at 1.6bn. However, following sharp falls in stock markets, many analysts are predicting this deficit will now have risen considerably.

With a relatively high exposure to equities - 67 per cent of the group's final salary pension scheme is invested in stocks and shares - the scheme is particularly vulnerable to market fluctuations.

But Ian Livingston, finance director, will indicate this week that it is still far too early to gauge whether BT will be required to increase its regular payments into the scheme.

Companies that run final salary pension schemes are forced to conduct a formal actuarial valuation of their scheme every three years. BT is now in the middle of a full formal valuation of its pension scheme, the results of which will be released in May.

On the basis of these findings, the company will then engage in discussions with the trustees of its pension scheme to decide whether higher cash injections are required.

This issue is particularly important for BT as its final salary scheme is one of the largest in the UK with more than 376,000 members and assets of 27bn.

The decisions facing BT are similar to those facing a whole myriad of UK companies. Given the volatility of stock markets and rising life expectancy, final salary pension schemes are too big a liability for some companies, with growing numbers choosing to shut them down to new entrants.

BT has already shut down its final salary scheme to new entrants, although there are no suggestions that it could take the far more dramatic step of closing the scheme to existing employees.

from the herald - week ahead

BT

The telecoms group will be under pressure on Thursday to show it can get somewhere near the ambitious targets set in April of 6% to 8% revenues growth over the following three years.

In BT's last update in November, revenues edged ahead 2% in the six months to September 30 and analysts are not expecting spectacular figures this time around, with a focus on cost controls likely to be of major concern.

The market is likely to be looking for third-quarter pre-tax profits of 423m, up from 381m last time, as well as an encouraging update on the take-up of BT's much-heralded broadband offering.

Online farmers are reaping the rewards
By Robert Uhlig, Farming Correspondent
(Filed: 11/02/2003)


Farmers are turning to the internet in increasing numbers to challenge the domination of the supermarkets. More than 300 million worth of farm produce was sold online last year.

Farm trade on the internet was unheard of five years ago, but last year one in 10 of Britain's 300,000 farms marketed produce on the internet, generating sales of 325 million, according to a study by the National Farmers' Union. The study scotched the image of farmers as often isolated and out of touch, relying on visits to local markets to catch up on news.

Nowadays, more than eight out of 10 farmers are connected to the internet, using it primarily for information, research, banking and news.

Growth in internet use grinds to a halt
By Robert Uhlig telegraph
(Filed: 10/02/2003)


The growth in internet use is grinding to a halt, according to research by Oftel, the telecoms watchdog.

It found that despite a huge take-up of high-speed broadband services, demand has levelled off now that half the population is online.

Last year, both dial-up and broadband net access from home remained static at about 42 per cent of the population in Britain, according to Oftel.

Hoping that the figure will rise, the Government will begin campaign in May to persuade people to connect to the internet. National television advertisements and direct mailing will be targeted at the over-55s, women and ethnic minorities - the groups that are currently under represented on the internet.

However, according to Jupiter Research, the independent analysts, there is little room for growth. It predicts that the number of internet users will continue to grow slowly to about 51 per cent of the population in 2007.

Ministers have been studying countries such as South Korea, where six out of 10 people have broadband connections at home, to determine why internet usage is slowing in Britain.

A team from Brunel University found that new approaches were needed for broadband services to appeal to the half of the population yet to go online. In Korea, broadband is targeted at mothers, stressing the value of broadband services to, for example, education.

The researchers from Brunel University concluded that internet service providers needed to make broadband a critical utility similar to electricity, instead of regarding it as a desirable luxury.

Outperforming the market and the sector this morning - nas has reversed and is now marginally positive

seems like NTL have shot themselves in the foot :-))


ains


NTL wakes up to broadband PR catastrophe

Unlimited "is a trade name"

By Mike Magee: Monday 10 February 2003, 11:35


SUITS AT NTL woke up this morning to find they had a PR nightmare on their hands and have apologised for the "poor communications" that generated the furore, which broke over the weekend.
Aizad Hussain, managing director of NTL:Home, apologised for "poor communication" of its new policy limiting its broadband connections to 1GB downloads a day.

He has written a little letter in which he claims NTL will be "very flexible" about the download limits, but claimed some customers had confused gigabyte limits with kilobit speeds.

One of the problems is that NTL advertised an unlimited service, and customers were up in arms about this. Hussain now defines this as having a "trade name" unlimited and he says its broadband service is no longer called unlimited.

He said the intention of NTL was only to limit very frequent or persistent "heavy network use" that would affect other customers. Now NTL will only contact customers who exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in a consecutive 14-day (fortnight) period, he said.

One telling line in the statement is that the new Ts&Cs will not affect gaming applications at all this is of particular interest because as we reported last month, NTL has a deal with Xbox Online here in Blighty, aimed ot undercut BT Openworld.

One gigabyte of data a day, he said, is equal to 100 large software programs, 200 music tracks, 650 short videos, 10,000 pictures and 20,000 web pages.

Customers won't be disconnected but will be advised to moderate their limits.

Triple figure growth in European online sales - Visa EU




10 February 2003 - Consumer confidence in the Internet remains buoyant with total EU e-commerce sales for the last quarter of 2002 up by 136% compared to the same period in 2001, according to data from Visa EU.

The card organisation says over the last three months of 2002 European Web sites sold over 2.5 billion to Visa cardholders online, with over 31 million transactions processed in total.

Recent strong quarterly growth has helped sustain the increase with online transactions in the last quarter up by 40% compared to the previous three months. Sales volumes also increased, with the amount spent online up by a third (33%) in the latter half of last year.

NTL seeks to clarify 1GB/day broadband cap
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 10/02/2003 at 12:42 GMT


NTL has been stunned by the outcry from its broadband customers over the cableco's decision to cap usage of its broadband service to 1 gigabyte a day.

The announcement was sneaked out on Friday but caused such an uproar that senior execs have been forced to step in and clarify the cableco's position.

A protest site set up on Friday calling for customers not to pay their NTL bills until the matter is resolved, has already received more than 30,000 hits and 100s of emails from angry users.

In a poll of 760 punters on the cableco's own pet nthellworld.com site, half said they planned to ditch NTL and find another broadband provider because of the cap.

Others argue the cap defeats the whole reason for having broadband and are looking at ways to get NTL to overturn its decision.

However, in an open letter on nthellworld.com, ntl:home MD, Mr Hussain admitted that the cap was "poorly communicated" but insisted that it would stay.

In a Q&A the company said: "Our objective is only to limit very frequent or persistent heavy network use that can impact other customers. Therefore we will ONLY contact customers who exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in any consecutive 14-day period.

"If you occasionally exceed your data limit, it will not be a problem. Remember our goal is to give freedom and easy usage to our customers. This rule ensures that you have peace of mind and that we are able to reduce the unfair prolonged usage by a small number."

Indeed, NTL insists that the limit has been imposed more as a guideline. It is not trying to penalise "ordinary" users. Instead, it wants to target persistent abusers of its broadband service, many of whom, its believed, are running businesses on what the cableco insists is a domestic service.

It's still too early to say whether NTL has managed to appease its hacked-off punters.

oftel provisional order announced

Mon 10 February 2003 12:57PM GMT

BT scoops 140m Bradford & Bingley deal
Mortgage provider thinks long-term



Bradford & Bingley has awarded BT a 10-year, 140m outsourcing contract, covering a wide range of technologies and business services.


Over 550 Bradford & Bingley (B&B) sites will be connected across the UK via local and wide area networks, with a focus on collaboration tools, hosting and security.



The bank has opted for Lotus Notes-based email managed and hosted by the telco, which is a major partner of Microsoft, a competing provider of groupware.


Other key parts of the deal include disaster recovery services, security - encompassing firewall management, intrusion detection and virus scanning - remote connectivity for over 1,000 independent financial advisors, and web hosting for online financial services.


B&B has had an outsourcing relationship with BT since 1998 and said the larger contract is helping it reduce its supplier base and receive better service.

Tony Hallett

Oftel Pushes For Wholesale Midband

By:mark.j @ 2:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]Oftel, the UK telecoms regulator, is rumoured to be planning a wholesale push for BTs forthcoming Midband ISDN service.

Many of you may remember BTs original announcement from late last year, in which the Midband service was touted as a possible semi-solution to the lack of broadband access in rural areas.

Apparently Oftel is unwilling to allow BT to monopolise the midband market and is planning for a wholesale push. Midband itself has come in for a lot of controversy, with many describing it as a distraction from the real problems of broadband coverage:

Midband, which was announced by BT Retail chief executive Pierre Danon at last November's e-Summit, will give data rates of up to 128Kbps, and although it does not give a constant Web connection, it will provide always-on email.

Trials of Midband are due to start within weeks, but a commercial launch date has not been released by BT.

ZDNet UK understands that some senior figures within Oftel are determined that BT should not be the only midband retailer and that BT Wholesale must make the technology available to other Internet service providers on the same terms as it does to BT Retail.

A decision isn't expected to be made for awhile yet, although BT isn't completely opposed to the idea. Unfortunately Midband is likely to remain controversial until such a time as full and final details are announced. More @ ZDNet.

LONDON (AFX) - Internet service providers will for the first time have to pay a fee to fund the telecommunications industry regulator Oftel.
Currently, only telecom operators have to make up the watchdog's day-to-day running costs.

But under new EU regulations to be introduced on July 25, all ISPs and other electronic communication companies with an annual turnover above 5 mln stg will have to pay towards the cost of regulation, which will total 19.5 mln stg this year.

Under the plans, companies will have to pay a fee equal to 0.063 pct of their annual sales, a spokesperson for Oftel said.

Oftel will later this year be folded into a new super-regulator -- Ofcom -- which will be responsible for both the telecoms and media sector.

Guardian

down BT


Telecoms regulator Oftel clamped down yesterday on BT for offering an unfair discount to a company which was close to defecting to a rival firm.

Vanco, which provides communications services to large corporations, was in the final stages of securing a multi-million pound, multi-year contract with IBM, a BT customer. When BT learned of the Vanco contract, it introduced a six-figure discount through RHM, a telecoms reseller.

Oftel yesterday ruled that BT had breached its licence, which demands that the company make offers available to all customers. It is the first time the regulator has found that the company ftried to undercut rivals.

BT is expected to defend its position vigorously.

Outperforming sector and market this morning @ plus 2.54%

ains

BT pushes the alternative to leased lines: SDSL
Tuesday 11 February 2003, 6:17:20 AM
United Kingdom
Written by James Moreton
Businesses tend to favour E1 leased lines for high speed Internet connections.

Being a dedicated line, E1 does not suffer from the contention issues that xDSL has. Unfortunately this means that they have a high price is usually paid, being far more expensive than the DSL alternative.


SDSL, with the main advantage of having the same upload speed as download, will be able to undercut the leased line prices. BT will be offering businesses SDSL for 200/month + 450 setup, with other companies such as Star Internet and Easynet offering similar services.


It is true that SDSL does not offer the same guarantee of service as its leased counterpart, but will that really matter if it saves thousands?

More ISPs 'to impose download limits'
14:21 Tuesday 11th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


With broadband networks increasingly 'swamped' by P2P traffic, experts predict that by the end of the year most ISPs will limit how much data users can download
The widespread and growing use of peer-to-peer networks is likely to force broadband operators to restrict the amount of data their subscribers are allowed to download, according to analyst group Jupiter Research.

Jupiter Research warned this week that file sharing is growing "at a phenomenal rate", and that the sheer volume of music and movie files being transferred between users is putting a huge burden on broadband service providers.

According to Jupiter, some broadband ISPs are finding that over 50 percent of the traffic on their networks is caused by P2P file-sharing.

"Although not the only factor in driving Internet users to broadband, file-sharing has proven to be broadband's first 'killer application,'" said Dan Stevenson, analyst at Jupiter Research, in a research note. "As well as being a big problem for record labels and the Hollywood studios alike, Internet service providers are beginning to suffer too -- under the heavy weight that file-sharing imposes on their networks."

As a result of the increased traffic, these operators will probably be forced to limit the amount of data its broadband customers are allowed to download from the Net. Should they exceed this limit, they will be charged extra.

"Not wanting to take on the file-sharing networks in court, the best solution for broadband service providers to address this issue would be to impose monthly data limits on their subscribers," Stevenson advised.

Jupiter predicts that by the end of 2003 such data limits will be "the rule, not the exception."

Such a move is likely to prove unpopular with broadband users, though, who are likely to feel that data limits are at odds with the idea of an unlimited, always-on service.

NTL caused a large amount of controversy over the last few days after introducing data limits for its broadband service. It plans to target people who regularly download more than 1GB of data per day.

Back in October 2001, BT also caused a storm of protest when it blocked the ports used by some peer-to-peer applications. It said the move was an attempt to ensure it offered a decent service for all users, but did back down after many customers complained.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Telecom

BUY at 176.2p says Merrill Lynch (10th February 2003).

BT releases Q3 figures on Thursday 13th February, when Merrill expects the telecom giant to report group revenues of 4.76bn and group EBITDA of 1.48bn. The broker notes that the group's cost cutting efforts will have helped to offset any weakness in top line growth during the quarter as it did in Q2. In the short term Merrill believes there may be upside potential to its 2004 EPS forecast of 15.9p, given the group's "conservative" cost cutting targets. However some concern remains in the long term, as the broker suspects the fixed-mobile substitution, a trend to which BT is exposed, will be slower in Europe than in the US. Merrill however retains a positive rating and a price objective of 230p ahead of the results.

BT click&buy for the more mature surfer
Wednesday 12 February 2003, 4:04:23 AM
United Kingdom
Written by James Moreton - see netfornowt for fukk article

We have this release from BT, listing a number of popular sites available for our more seasoned readers:


"Its not young people, but those aged 50 plus, that are the most rapidly growing group of internet users in the UK. With the overwhelming selection of content already available on the web, BT click&buy provides users with a trusted source of valuable content at the click of a button.


BT recognises that there is still a reluctance to give out creditcard details across multiple web sites, particularly for the more mature surfer. The revolutionary service from BT provides a simple, safe and secure way to access high quality content, without the risk of giving out credit card details for each purchase. With BT click&buy, you simply register once to open an online account. Any content purchased via BT click&buy is added to this central account and can then be settled using credit cards, debit cards, direct debit or, from April 2003, the BT home phone bill.

The UK has one of the highest percentages of mature web users in Europe. Content available via BT click&buy is proving to be extremely popular with this more mature market, with over 20 per cent of registered users aged 50 or over.

This elite and growing group can go to www.btclickandbuy.com to buy premium content from a wide range of web sites from the world of food, sport, entertainment and leisure, to name just a few:

Premium service aims at families

By Mike Magee: Wednesday 12 February 2003, 12:14


BT AND YAHOO! HAVED SIGNED A DEAL that targets UK broadband customers and seems directly aimed at competing with AOL. The new service called Yahoo! UK Plus offers a range of extras intended to be family friendly.
While experienced Net users are likely to turn up their noses, the new deal could well be a thorn in AOL's side. It offers a "personalised portal experience" and some useful extra software. Most notably, the service includes a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, just the sort of thing that the average user needs but may not know about.

To help parents avoid having to give their children an early education about the birds and the bees, the package includes parental controls. The more you read about it, the more it sounds like AOL. It even comes with instant messaging.

Yahoo! says that its equivalent service in the US has been a great success. The new UK service will almost certainly be priced at a premium, though how much it will cost has not yet been stated.

There is no sign of how the two companies will market this offering but, given their size, national newspaper ads seem a certainty. Provided the price is right, they are sure to get plenty of customers.

Strange Facts
In a survey that is running on a BT Openworld users forum, 29% of BTO users polled thought that the service should be bandwidth capped to ensure the majority of users don't suffer. NTL was recently derided by many of its users for introducing a cap and BT Openworld is no stranger to that sort of problem. The latter blocked IP ports used by peer-to-peer software such as Kazaa and suffered a nasty PR backlash.

Libraries to offer free internet use
From The Streatham Guardian

Free library internet access seven days a week has been launched in Lambeth.

Lottery funded The People's Network officially kicked off on Thursday last week at Brixton library.

Access to e-mail facilities, the library catalogue, CD-Roms, word processing, spreadsheets and learning packages are on offer seven days a week in nine libraries in the borough.

More than 250,000 from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund has been spent on new terminals and a further 64,000 is being used over three years to train library staff to help users.

Councillor Anthony Bottrall, executive member for education, said: "This quarter of a million pound investment in our library service will really boost learning for Lambeth residents of all ages.

"Why pay to go to an internet caf when you can go to a library and have free access?"

The People's Network in Lambeth is part of a 120million national project to connect all public libraries to the internet.

It represents the biggest single investment in the 150-year history of public libraries.

11:42 Wednesday 12th February 2003

Announ. on directors reinvesting divs

More than holding their own today despite the poor market

ains



Wed 12 February 2003 03:29PM GMT

BT and Yahoo team up to offer broadband service
We dont know when it'll available or how much it'll cost, however



Yahoo UK has teamed up with BT Broadband to offer a high-speed internet service.

The new service, dubbed Yahoo UK Plus, will include multiple email accounts, instant messaging, digital photo storage, firewall security and antivirus software. The companies did not say when the service would be available or how much it would cost.

High-speed access and other premium services are a key part of Yahoo's evolving strategy, aimed at shoring up the web portal's bottom line. In the third quarter, the company's fees and listing business rose 120 per cent to $89.4m. About 70 per cent of that business comes from premium services including personals, email forwarding, email storage and internet access.


Today's deal with BT is Yahoo's second with a major telecommunications company. Last year, Yahoo and SBC Communications launched a co-branded DSL service in the US that features Yahoo's front-end web content and services bundled into SBC's internet access. Yahoo gets a cut from subscription revenue and will split its advertising revenue with the telco.

The deal was touted by Yahoo as a way to diversify its revenue in the face of an anemic online advertising market. Executives have long promised more deals with broadband access companies, namely telecoms and cable providers. But to date, SBC remains the only US provider under its belt.

From the description, Yahoo's BT offer mirrors a test product called "Yahoo Plus." Unveiled as a preview in November, Yahoo Plus is a combination of the company's various premium services, similar to the one offered with the BT product. At the time, Yahoo Plus was priced at $7.95 a month, although company executives said the price was liable to change.

In November, BT signed a similar deal with Microsoft, as part of the company's launch of the MSN 8 online service.

02/12 14:35
BT 3rd-Qtr Profit Probably Fell 51% to 350.4 Mln Pounds (Table)
By Dex McLuskey


London, Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a summary of analyst expectations for fiscal third-quarter results for BT Group Plc, the former U.K. telephone monopoly. BT is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow at about 7 a.m. London time.

Net income probably fell 51 percent to 350.4 million pounds ($566.8 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, from 721 million pounds in the year-ago period, according to the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Revenue probably rose 2.4 percent to about 4.77 billion pounds. Profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization is expected to be little changed at 1.49 billion pounds. BT last year had one-time gains from property sales and one-time losses on sales of foreign businesses.

Analysts Estimates, in million of pounds

Q3 2001 Lowest Highest Q3 2002
Actual Forecast Forecast Estimate
Group Revenue 4,657 4,705 4,846 4,768
Ebitda 1,509 1,472 1,509 1,492
Pretax Profit 381 482 536 520.1
Net income 721* 321 375 350.4

*Includes 900 million-pound gain from shedding property and 165
million-pound loss from selling overseas units.

BT confirms Revenue outsourcing bid
By Gareth Morgan [12-02-2003]

Telco partners with Computer Sciences and SchlumbergerSema to form the 'Fusion Alliance'
BT has confirmed that it is to partner with Computer Sciences (CSC) and SchlumbergerSema to bid for the massive 4bn Inland Revenue outsourcing contract.
In June last year, BT's Syntegra services arm was chosen as one of three bidders invited to submit a tender for the running of the Revenue's IT systems.

The group will be known as the Fusion Alliance. BT will provide the telecoms expertise, while CSC and SchlumbergerSema will contribute their experience of huge projects and government deals.

EDS and Accenture, which currently has the contract, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young also made the Inland Revenue shortlist. Speculation suggests that it will be hard to dislodge the EDS and Accenture partnership from the contract.

Analsysts Ovum Holway have said instances of an incumbent being unseated from such outsourcing contracts were "as rare as hens teeth".

The deal will cover 73,000 desktops, 200 systems, 20 ICL mainframes and 177 IBM and Hewlett Packard Unix boxes. Another contract currently held by Accenture is also part of the deal.

The successful bidders are expected to start running the operation from April 2004, and the contract could run for 18 years.

The deadline for submitting bids is 14 March 2003, with the final decision expected by December.

ATTENTION:


FOLLOWING NOTICE:

DAMAGE TO YOUR HEALTH: http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=2877490

Guess it's a little late now .....

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Barclays is expected to post a lacklustre set of full-year results. According to analysts it was hit by the combined impact of high provisions and weak stock markets.

On a brighter note BT is expected to post a 30% rise in third quarter earnings, although analysts are keen to hear about the company's ability to hit growth targets and the state of its pension deficit.

Great expectations and figures from BT ...... CEO has just been on CNBC with the overall comments that given a choice peeps like BT - Investors and customers.

Analysts talk of a must have share - super utility - greater divi expectations

All looks promising and expect the shares to move up significantly ...... Don't see how a limited threat of war in the ME can do much harm


ains


Ben Verwaayen, Chief Executive, commenting on the third quarter results, said:

'These are excellent results. We are achieving our key goals of improving cash
flow, earnings per share and customer satisfaction. These results demonstrate a
substantial increase in profitability, with earnings per share* growth of 71 per
cent.

Revenue growth has been challenging, but we gained real momentum in the
corporate sector, winning a number of major new contracts and our solutions
business achieved record sales orders in the quarter.

We generated our highest ever broadband sales, with in excess of 25,000 per
week in January, launched a major market awareness campaign, reduced wholesale
and retail connection charges and lowered the exchange upgrade trigger levels,
demonstrating our strong commitment to broadband Britain.'

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Earnings per share* of 4.1 pence, up 71 per cent

Profit before taxation* of 521 million, up 37 per cent

Group turnover* of 4,701 million, up 1 per cent

Net debt reduced by 195 million to 12.9 billion

In January 2003, we received proceeds of 2.6 billion from the sale of our
shareholding in Cegetel to further reduce net debt

Record broadband sales in January, in excess of 25,000 per week; end users
of over 650,000 at February 7, 2003

Further improvements in customer satisfaction


*from continuing activities before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items

Group Finance Director's statement

Ian Livingston, Group Finance Director, commenting on the third quarter results,
said:

'BT's financial position continues to strengthen. Net debt was reduced by 195
million to 12.9 billion. In January net debt has further reduced with the
receipt of the 2.6 billion proceeds from the sale of our shareholding in
Cegetel.

Underlying operating performance is strong with earnings per share* increasing
by 71 per cent over last year to 4.1 pence in the quarter and by 66 per cent to
10.3 pence in the nine months.'



BT tops forecasts
13/02/2003 07:26


LONDON (Reuters) - Dominant telecoms company BT has reported better-than-expected third quarter profit saying it expects to show a pension deficit of up to 1.5 billion pounds for the end of 2002.

Although the pension funding valuation had not yet been completed, BT said on Thursday the companys actuary believed the deficit would be in a range of 1.0 to 1.5 billion pounds -- as falling stock markets erode the value of invested pension money.

Underlying pre-tax profit in the quarter to the end of Decmeber rose 37 percent to 521 million pounds, at the upper end of forecasts. Underlying earnings per share rose to 4.1 pence from 2.4p one year ago, beating expectations, while revenue fell short of forecasts with one percent percent rise to 4.7 billion pounds.

surprised to see the market and some of the media reaction but guess the market is on the down move again ..... I rad the pension situation a little differently and if we are close to the bottom I can see lots of upside when market gets moving northwards

Maybe wrong here but I will hold at current 175p


ains


Thursday, 13 February, 2003, 07:40 GMT
BT warns of pension black hole BBC


BT Group has reported better than expected profits for the final three months of 2002 but warned that its pension fund could be 1.5bn short.
The telecoms company said its pension fund valuation for the end of 2002 had not yet been calculated.

But it said the group's actuary believed it could show a deficit of between 1bn and 1.5bn ($2.4bn).

BT blamed the shortfall on the plunging stock markets, which have eroded the value of pension investments.

The group reported a 37% rise in underlying profits for the final three months of 2002 to 521m.

More soon.

US perspective ....


BT profits from more customers
Thursday, February 13, 2003 Posted: 0900 GMT





LONDON, England -- BT Group on Thursday posted better-than-expected profits for the third quarter as the UK's telecoms operator continued to expand its broadband customer base.

Pre-tax profit for the quarter to December rose 37 percent to 521 million, while revenue edged up 1 percent to 4.7 billion.

BT, which has placed high-speed Internet access at the heart of its strategy for growth, said it had 650,000 broadband subscribers on its network as of February 7, moving towards its target of one million by the middle of this year.

"We see enormous potential for broadband," Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen told CNN. "It is all about profit growth and it is all about doing the best for the customer."

BT's net debt fell 195 million in the third quarter to 12.9 billion. The group said its debt would be further cut in the fourth quarter due to the 2.6 billion sale of its stake in France's Cegetel to Vivendi Universal.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 4 million to 1.513 billion.

BT shares were down 3.7 percent to 176.25 pence in early London trading on Thursday.

I think the market has got the pension thingy totally wrong and looking to add a few at this time .....


ains


LONDON (AFX) - Ian Livingston, finance director of BT Group PLC, scaled back investment targets set 18 months ago and attempted to reassure the market on the group's growing pension deficit.
"What we have said for this year is we expect capex now to be about 2.6 bln stg and looking forward we expect it to be somewhere between that number and the 3 bln envelope that we talked about at the beginning for the current financial year," Livingston told reporters.

Regarding the group's widening pension deficit, he said he sees no need to increase the current 200 mln stg annual top-up it is paying into the scheme.

"We have said previously we did not expect the 200 mln a year to change significantly and on the basis of the work the actuary has done to date we have got no reason to change that position," said Livingston.

Earlier BT revealed its pension funds face a potential deficit of more than 1.5 bln stg - nearly 10 times the shortfall it had just three years ago.

BT has been hit by a combination of a huge slump in equity prices and new accounting rules.

At the end of March last year BT had 71 pct of its pension fund assets in equities, then worth 19.2 bln stg. Analysts estimate their value could have fallen by up to 5 bln stg by the year-end.

Ben Verwaayen, BT chief executive, stuck by revenue growth targets for its loss-making business telecom and web hosting division BT Ignite.

He said the Netherlands were the first country in which BT Ignite turned EBITDA positive in the three months to Dec 31 2002.

"If you look to BT Ignite, you see excluding carrier and the business we want to get out of - that is the SME and consumer business - we are growing 7 pct in this quarter under very difficult circumstances.

"So I think that Ignite has enough potential not to change its guidance there," said Verwaayen on the same conference call.

BT has pledged to hit 15 pct revenue compound annual growth rate for 2002-05 at BT Ignite whereas the market sees just 8 pct because it does not expect a recovery in IT and carrier markets.

Livingston said the group has about 500-700 mln stg of non-core assets yet to sell.

Earlier the group said net debt was reduced by 195 mln stg to 12.9 bln stg at Dec 31 2002, but it received 2.6 bln stg from the sale of its stake in Cegetel to Vivendi in January.

The company aims to get its net debt below 10 bln stg.

It also revealed record broadband sales in January, in excess of 25,000 per week, giving it a total customer base of over 650,000 as of Feb 7 2003.

Verwaayen said the group was on track to hit its 6 mln DSL subscribers target by mid-2006. "We are absolutely on target with broadband and you see the momentum growing in the market," he said.

Some analysts view the target as challenging due to to fierce competition from cable operators.

tim.farrand@afxnews.com

Thursday, 13 February, 2003, 10:43 GMT
BT looks to broadband


BT is aiming for 1 million broadband customers

BT has reported slower sales growth for 2002 but says it can drive expansion through its broadband arm which provides high-speed internet access.
BT has placed broadband at the heart of its growth strategy and said it was moving towards its target of one million customers by the middle of this year.


The news came as BT reported a 37% rise in profits for the three months to December 2002, to 521m.

But despite the rise in profits, overall sales growth was lower and the firm's shares fell 3% to 178p in early trade.

The firm also warned that its pension fund could be more than 1.5bn short.

The telecoms company said its pension fund valuation for the end of 2002 would not be calculated until May.

But it said the group's actuary believed it could show a deficit of between 1bn and 1.5bn ($2.4bn).

Topping up

BT blamed the shortfall on the plunging stock markets, which have eroded the value of pension investments.

A spokesman for BT Group told BBC News Online that the company had been investing 200m in its pension fund since 1999 and that this would be enough to make up any shortfall.

"We've said for some time that we're going to put in top-up funds of 200m a year," he said.

"Our actuaries have looked at the scheme and say the 200m will not have to change."

Cashing in

BT reduced its debt in the period by 195m to 12.9bn.

It said this figure would fall significantly when it banked the 2.6bn it received from Vivendi for selling its stake in France's Cegetel.

Vivendi fought off a rival bid from Vodafone to buy BT's 26% stake in the French telecom group, which owns France's second biggest mobile operator SFR.

13 Feb 2003 11:03 GMT



BT hit by pension worries

By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group has reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits, but concerns about a yawning pension fund gap and slower sales growth have knocked its shares.

BT bonds improved on the strong cash flow and reduced debt, and some equity analysts said the worries on pensions overshadowed a company poised to start paying higher dividends.

"On balance BT feels a bit cheap to us, but we think there are no catalysts to spur the shares on from today."
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
BT will announce a revised pension funding deficit in May based on new accounting standards, and analysts' forecasts range as high as five billion pounds. Steep declines in stock markets have eroded the pension funds of many large British companies, including Rolls Royce RR.L and British Airways BAY.L .

For guidance, BT said its actuary believed the end-2002 deficit based on old SSAP 24 accounting standards would be in a range of 1.0 billion to 1.5 billion pounds compared with 200 million pounds at the end of March 2000.

Shares in BT BT.L , with a market capitalisation around 15 billion pounds, fell 4.4 percent to 175 pence in morning trade.

When BT last calculated its funding valuation three years ago, it ended up 800 million pounds more than the SSAP 24 value.

Nomura analyst Chris Alliott said BT's current market value priced in a pension deficit of more than Nomura's worst-case five billion pound estimate, and he repeated a "buy" recommendation on the stock.

BT Finance Director Ian Livingston reiterated that the company did not expect its annual pension deficit payment to be much different from its current 200 million pounds.

"Our actuary has told us that there's nothing to cause that figure to change," he told reporters on a conference call.

Underlying pre-tax profit for the quarter to end-December rose 37 percent to 521 million pounds, at the upper end of forecasts. Underlying earnings per share rose to 4.1 pence from 2.4p one year ago, beating expectations. But revenue fell short of forecasts with a one percent gain to 4.7 billion pounds.

REVENUES FLAT, BUT HIGHER QUALITY

Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said he had turned his attention to how much profit each pound of revenue generates as BT loses some of its less important lower-margin business.

"Other parts of our revenues are truly important, and the good news here is (that) where it's really important, it's growing," he said.

BT, which has placed high-speed Internet access at the heart of its strategy for growth, said it had 650,000 broadband subscribers on its network as of February 7, moving towards its target of one million by the middle of this year. In January, the company signed up more than 25,000 new users per week.

Net debt fell 195 million pounds in the quarter to 12.9 billion, and the company said it would fall even further in the fourth quarter when it banks the 2.6 billion pounds it received from Vivendi EAUG.PA for its stake in France's Cegetel.

Traders said BT's 7.125 percent euro bond due 2011 GB012368488= was yielding 132 basis points more than the benchmark, improving by four basis points on the day, having initially fallen by 10 basis points.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by just four million pounds to 1.513 billion.

But BT is driving net profit growth by cutting interest payments and making cost cuts that filter down to the bottom line. It aims to hit an annual earnings per share growth target of 25 percent over the next three years.

"On balance BT feels a bit cheap to us, but we think there are no catalysts to spur the shares on from today," Schroder Salomon Smith Barney said in a research note, rating the stock "in line" with the performance of the market.

Concerns about the former monopoly's large pension fund have weighed on its share price recently. Though the stock has outperformed the FTSE 100 by two percent since the start of 2003, the British telecoms sector as a whole has outperformed the same London benchmark index by 10 percent in that period.

starting to recover as analysts start crunching the numbers - US futures marginally +

ains




scotsman

Bright outlook for BT as profits surge 37%

BY SCOTT REID


FORMER telecoms monopoly BT today posted better-than-expected profits for third quarter of the year and said it had dialled up record broadband sales last month.

The telecoms giant, which has undergone major restructuring during the past couple of years as it attempts to slash its debt pile, said underlying pre-tax profit in the three months to the end of December had risen 37 per cent to 521 million, a figure at the upper end of analysts forecasts.

Underlying earnings per share beat expectations by rising to 4.1p from 2.4p a year earlier, but group turnover fell short of forecasts, rising by one per cent to 4.7 billion. Sales at the biggest division, BT Retail, which provides traditional fixed-line telecoms services, rose 4.2 per cent to just over 3.3bn.

BTs chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, described the third quarter figures as "excellent results".

He said revenue growth had been challenging, but claimed to have gained real momentum in the corporate sector, winning a number of major new contracts.

He added: "We are achieving our key goals of improving cash flow, earnings per share and customer satisfaction."

Heavy advertising in the emerging broadband market, which provides customers with a high-speed, permanent connection to the internet, certainly appears to have paid off for BT, as the group said it had generated its highest ever broadband sales, with in excess of 25,000 new connections per week in January.

BT has set a target of five million faster internet access customers by 2006, and will have 650,000 customers as of February 7.

In addition to launching a major market awareness campaign, BT has reduced wholesale and retail connection charges and lowered the exchange upgrade trigger levels, though competition remains fierce from rival broadband providers such as NTL, Freeserve and AOL.

On a sour note, the telecoms heavyweight said it expected to show a pension deficit of up to 1.5bn for the end of 2002. Although the pension funding valuation had not yet been completed, BT said the companys actuary believed the deficit would be in a range of 1bn to 1.5bn, as falling stock markets erode the value of invested pension money.

Concerns about BTs large pension fund have weighed on its share price in recent weeks. The stock has outperformed the FTSE 100 by just two per cent since the start of the new year, despite the fact that the UK telecoms sector has outperformed the same London benchmark index by nine per cent in that period.

BT said net debt fell 195m in the quarter to 12.9bn, and added it would fall even further in the fourth quarter when it banks the 2.6bn it received from Vivendi for its stake in Frances Cegetel.

Ian Livingston, group finance director, said: "BTs financial position continues to strengthen. Underlying operating performance is strong, with earnings per share increasing by 71 per cent over last year and 66 per cent in the nine months."

BT said business call volumes have dropped off, driven by a combination of customers switching out of traditional telephony and pressure from the implementation of carrier pre-selection.

Last month, the company launched a new call package aimed at corporate users, which places a ceiling of 10p on national and local business calls and provides a single BT customer contact.

HA HA, I fanyone was even remotely interested in your thread Ains, I'd tell them to short BT.A, BAY.L and OOM. only you and the C+P's here though! see you soon.

Interesting article on sharing a bb connection - in aprils PC pro ..... covers Home and small business use

ains



LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC, the UK's dominant telecom company, has sought to allay investor fears about its widening pension deficit.
But many brokers said BT will need to pay more than its current 200 mln stg a year as a pension top-up to cover the shortfall.

And they also highlighted a weaker-than-expected 1 pct rise in third-quarter revenue.

BT's shares traded 7.25 pence or 3.96 pct lower at 175.25 at 1.00 pm.

The company also reported a 37 pct rise in third-quarter underlying profits to 521 mln stg, above stock market forecasts centred on 500 mln.

BT revealed its pension funds face a potential deficit of more than 1.5 bln stg -- nearly 10 times the shortfall it had just three years ago.

The company has been hit by a combination of a huge slump in equity prices and new accounting rules.

At the end of March last year BT had 71 pct of its pension fund assets in equities, then worth 19.2 bln stg.

Analysts estimate their value could have fallen by up to 5 bln stg by the year-end.

But finance director Ian Livingston said he sees no need to increase the current 200 mln stg annual top-up it is paying into the scheme.

"We have said previously we did not expect the 200 mln a year to change significantly and on the basis of the work the actuary has done to date we have got no reason to change that position," said Livingston.

But many analysts think 200 mln stg will not be enough.

Broker Merrill Lynch, in a research note, raised its EPS and dividend forecasts but still felt it necessary to increase its projected pension top-up payments needed by the company by 50 mln stg a year to 350 mln.

Merrill said BT's results "tell a familiar tale", with revenues weaker than it had anticipated, but EPS better.

BT reported profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of 521 mln stg for the three months to Dec 31 2002, up 37 pct on the same three months a year earlier.

Group turnover of 4.701 bln stg was up just 1 pct over the same period.

According to an AFX News poll of eight brokers' forecasts, an underlying pretax profit of 460-530 was expected, giving a consensus of 500 mln. That compares with a 381 mln stg profit last time.

Revenues of 4.7-4.83 bln stg were expected, up some 2.2 pct on the same quarter a year ago.

The group said net debt was reduced by 195 mln stg to 12.9 bln stg at Dec 31 2002, but it received 2.6 bln stg from the sale of its stake in Cegetel to Vivendi in January.

The company aims to get its net debt below 10 bln stg.

BT also revealed record broadband sales in January, in excess of 25,000 per week, giving it a total customer base of over 650,000 as of Feb 7.

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said the group is on track to hit its 6 mln DSL subscribers target by mid-2006.

But some analysts view the target as challenging due to fierce competition from cable operators.

tim.farrand@afxnews.com

172 now...1% revenue growth,badly recieved my market.

real chance this will retest its lows in the 150's now.i'd imagine there will be broker downgrades tomorrow morning.

I think you will find the brokers have already made their comments ....

ainsoph

169 now...their comments musn't be much good.You have been tipping this from 9.Why ?

I never tip any share and we started the thread @ 176p

did you read this dreamer - 'I hold and swing trade a few and not adverse to intraday trading them'

How many alises do you have now?



ains




BT seeks to calm fears on pension deficit, reports Q3 profit up 37 pct
LONDON (AFX) - BT Group Plc, the UK's dominant telecom company, sought to allay investor fears about its widening pension deficit.

But many brokers argued BT will need to pay more than its current 200 mln stg a year as a pension top-up to cover the shortfall.

And they also highlighted a weaker than expected 1 pct rise in third quarter revenue.

The company also reported a 37 pct rise in third quarter underlying profits to 521 mln stg, above stock market forecasts centred on 500 mln.

BT revealed its pension funds face a potential deficit of more than 1.5 bln stg - nearly 10 times the shortfall it had just three years ago.

The company has been hit by a combination of a huge slump in equity prices and new accounting rules.

At the end of March last year BT had 71 pct of its pension fund assets in equities, then worth 19.2 bln stg.

Analysts estimate their value could have fallen by up to 5 bln stg by the year-end.

But finance director Ian Livingston said he saw no need to increase the current 200 mln stg annual top-up it is paying into the scheme.

"We have said previously we did not expect the 200 mln a year to change significantly and on the basis of the work the actuary has done to date we have got no reason to change that position," said Livingston.

But many analysts think 200 mln stg will not be enough.

Broker Merrill Lynch, in a research note, raised its EPS and dividend forecasts but still felt it necessary to increase its projected pension top-up payments needed by the company by 50 mln stg a year to 350 mln.

Merrill said BT's results "tell a familiar tale", with revenues weaker than it had anticipated, but EPS better.

BT reported profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of 521 mln stg for the three months to Dec 31 2002, up 37 pct on the same three months a year earlier.

Group turnover of 4.701 bln stg was up just 1 pct over the same period.

According to an AFX poll of 8 brokers' forecasts, an underlying pretax profit of 460-530 was expected, giving a consensus of 500 mln. That compares with a 381 mln stg profit last time.

Revenues of 4.7 bln to 4.83 bln stg were expected, up some 2.2 pct on the same quarter a year ago.

The group said net debt was reduced by 195 mln stg to 12.9 bln stg at Dec 31 2002, but it received 2.6 bln stg from the sale of its stake in Cegetel to Vivendi in January.

The company aims to get its net debt below 10 bln stg.

BT also revealed record broadband sales in January, in excess of 25,000 per week, giving it a total customer base of over 650,000 as of Feb 7 2003.

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said the group was on track to hit its 6 mln DSL subscribers target by mid-2006.

But some analysts view the target as challenging due to fierce competition from cable operators. tim.farrand@afxnews.com

i would say your intraday trading would be good !

Stars back BT as it dismisses pensions threat
Published: 16:24 Thr 13 Feb 2003
By Gavin Lumsden, Editor in Chief


(Update) There are no less than eight of our favourite fund managers backing BT right now despite today's fears of its ballooning pension fund deficit - read on to find out who they are.


BT today shrugged off worries about its ballooning pension fund deficit and insisted it was growing in all the right areas.

Ben Verwaayen, BT's chief executive who has been in the hot seat for a year now, said today that in spite of having to re-think his ambitious targets for 6-8% revenue growth in his first three years of office, he was if anything more optimistic than ever about BT's prospects.

'If anything I have to scale up not down expectations,' said Verwaayen, having found a responsive, innovative company that is working smarter and has lots of opportunities in Europe, he said. 'I am very optimistic,' he added.

Trading aside, one major concern for investors has been the company's pension fund deficit. BT (BT.A) is not alone in having a hefty deficit, as GlaxoSmithKline proved yesterday with a 1.3 billion funding gap and Barclays' admission today that its scheme would show up 1.3 billion short on incoming FRS17 accounting standard.

BT's actuary is in the process of carrying out the triennial valuation of the pension scheme, and on a preliminary view based on the current SSAP 24 basis, the deficit looks like being between 1 billion and 1.5 billion, compared to 0.2 billion in March 2000.

The news knocked the shares down nearly 12p, or 6.5%, at 171.25p.

Since 2000, BT has been paying in 200 million a year to the fund, and industry watchers have been expecting this sum to rise to at least 300 million. However group finance director Ian Livingston said he did not expect any 'substantial change' from the current 200 million level, and reminded investors that the 200 million was tax deductible so would cost BT only 70% of the cash paid in.

BT reported revenues for the third quarter to December up just 1% to 4.7 billion, although pre-tax profits were up 37% at 521 million and earnings per share were up 71% at 4.1p. Net debt, which hit a critical 20 billion a couple of years ago, was down a further 195 million to 12.9 billion at December, and decreased further in January with the receipt of the 2.6 billion proceeds from the sale of BT's holding in French operator Cegetel. This was the 26% holding that Vodafone had hoped to pick up, but which was pre-empted by Vivendi.

Verwaayen said today's figures were 'really excellent results,' especially when you look underneath the 1% overall growth to figures such as consumer revenues which are growing for 'the first time in many, many years,' strong corporate business growth and broadband orders hitting some 25,000 a week last month.

The main factors behind the flat revenues were the decline in global carrier turnover due to lost business from AT&T and WorldCom following the winding up of BT's Concert joint venture with the two US giants.

Verwaayen stressed the importance of growing 'profitable revenues', rather than revenue for revenue's sake, and said 'where it is important revenue, we are growing.'

Capital expenditure is expected to be some 2.6 billion for this year, and will be between that figure and 3 billion going forward.

Verwaayen said it was important to invest to deliver future growth. The company has also seen cost cutting slightly ahead of plan, and Verwaayen said it has been improving processes. 'Cost cutting means doing the same for less money,' said Verwaayen, and he said BT was working smarter and improving operations.

He is particularly pleased with the progress of broadband, where the numbers are 'fantastic,' some 650,000 users by last week, and highlighted also large corporate sales, and successes in BT Ignite.

He acknowledged that in the small business and residential markets, BT has faced tough competition from virtual operators and carrier pre-select, which had a 'major impact' on business revenues. However he said BT's response in the business market is BT Business Plan, launched last month, which guarantees a ceiling of 10p on national and local business calls and rewards loyalty.

He also maintains that when competitors quote better prices than BT in the retail market, they are quoting BT's standard charges, where some 10 million BT customers now take packages such as BT Together, which offer 'absolutely competitive' prices.

As to the outlook for the next year or so, Verwaayen said that in such an uncertain market, everyone is looking for certainties. 'We have the capability to keep growing where it matters,' he said.

Livingstone also said the company would maintain its 'progressive dividend policy, while continuing to generate cash and reduce debt. 'We can now do all three,' he said.

Citywire Verdict:

There are many good jokes about actuaries but here is one that investors in big companies like BT might like to consider as the issue of pension scheme funding comes to the fore.

An actuary is someone who'd rather be completely wrong than approximately right.

On the face of it BT's actuarial advice seems reassuring but that does not mean the problem of pension deficit will not return to haunt the company and its shareholders.

Nevertheless, on balance, we are inclined to give BT the benefit of the doubt. In this market there is no share that does not have issues and risks.

With the dividend set to get interesting again and its recovery well in place BT looks highly attractive. It is also encouraging to see that the stock is held by no less than eight star fund managers, all rated a top AAA by Citywire for their excellent risk-adjusted returns over three years. Andrew Green of GAM UK Diversified, Colin Morton of BWD UK Equity Income, Chris Littlejohns' Merrill Lynch UK Income, Edward Bonham Carter in Jupiter Undervalued Assets, Hak Salih of M&G Capital, Stephen Whittaker of New Star UK Growth, Nicholas Purves of St James Equity Income and Neil Woodford in his Invesco Perpetual High Income fund all hold BT as a top 10 holding.

If you need any more incentive Merrill Lynch today said buy with a price target of 230p.

As my colleague Richard Lander - who has tipped in and out of BT successfully recently - said recently there is no such thing a sure bet at the moment. But if you're looking for a longer term investment, BT is a great place to start.

2003 Citywire

"I never tip any share and we started the thread @ 176p
- ainsoph

ha, ha ,ha, ho, ho ,ho, eu huh har har ooooohh, what a wheeze

note: ADVFN threads created by ainsoph

BT will soon be back to 6 11 Aug 01
BT ... down but not out (27 Sep'01)


God, what a loser.

Telegraph gives them as a buy this morning ..... BT that is not the y peeps :-))



worries about a widening pension deficit outweighed broadly better-than-forecast third quarter figures. According to an AFX poll of 8 brokers' forecasts, an underlying pretax profit of 460-530 was expected for the three months ending Dec 31 2002, giving a consensus of 500m. The actual figure came in 37% higher at 521m. Revenue of 4.7 bln to 4.83 bln stg was forecast, up some 2.2% on the same quarter a year ago. But, in fact, revenues rose a slim 0.9%.

Broker Merrill Lynch, in a research note, raised its EPS and dividend forecasts but still felt it necessary to increase its projected pension top-up payments needed by the company by 50m per annum to 350m. Merrill said BT's results "tell a familiar tale", with revenues weaker than it had anticipated, but EPS better. The US broker had expected group revenue growth of 2.2% against BT's reported 0.9%. However, it noted the primary weakness was in Ignite, BT's business services unit, and was encouraged that the core voice business remained encouragingly robust. BT's EBITDA was 2.5% ahead of Merrill's forecast, thanks to quicker than expected cost-cutting, leading to the group's underlying EPS of 4.1 pence some 4.9% ahead consensus. This led Merrill to raise its 2003 EPS estimate by 4.1 pct, with its 2004 expectation upped by 3.5%. The broker also upped its dividend expectation for 2003 to 6.1 pence from 5.9. Merrill said its expectation of an increased pension top up payment was more than offset by lower levels of forecast capital expenditure, leading Merrill to increase its free-cashflow forecasts by 21% in 2003, 16% in 2004 and 7% in 2005. "In the near term we continue to believe that the potential for further cost and capex reductions outweighs the longer-term risks inherent in BT's business model," Merrill said in a morning note to clients. It repeated a target price of 230 pence per BT share.

Broker Cheuvreux said it expects further funding contributions of 1.6 bln stg spread over the next 10 years to cover the pension shortfall. "This won't remove pension concerns, but we believe the share price is discounting 3-4 bln stg additional funding, in other words is at the conservative end of expectations," said the broker in a research note. Cheuvreux described BT's results as mediocre. "More reassuringly Ignite was the weak division rather than the traditional businesses," said the broker in a research note.

...for a business with BT's utility profile, the dividend is miserly. Its prospective dividend yield of about 3.4 per cent is below the UK market average. It should rise as BT's payout rate shifts from around 43 per cent to 50 per cent, and earnings rise. But for now - with BT facing the prospect of slow long-term growth and ongoing fears over the pension fund deficit - it should not be enough to tempt investors.

Surely after the past few years you must realise that analysts dont know their arse from their elbows.

This company is a complete basket case and its only its monopoly position has kept it from imploding.

They offloaded debt onto the poor succker shareholders at OOM and are still massively in debt.

The published headline figures are nonsense and take a good luck at the balance sheet.

Growth will soon go negative as competition bites and the pension defecit is horrendous.

As somone put BT is not a telecoms operator it is a badly run hedge fund.

Not only that it is a badly run utility and it is still priced as a tech stock.

Of course analysts are upgrading it as they own a shed load of stock and need mugs to bid it up so they can offload it

At this time I am tracking with a view to buying - so not over keen on talking them up :-)) 168p on offer currently



ains

News - February 14,2003
BT Criticised Over DSL Campaign Cost

By:mark.j @ 10:08:AM BT has defended itself against allegations that the cost of its broadband subscriber push was too high:

BT said the additional customers could not be measured against the amount spent as the campaign was designed to stimulate take-up over several years.

The TV commercials were meant to create generic awareness of broadband the company added. "Between September and December the advertising was very intensive to kick-start the campaign and we will reap the benefits for a long time to come," a BT spokesman said.

We're not bothered so long as more people are registering for ADSL and thus increasing coverage. More in The Scotsman newspaper.

TELECOMS giant BT has confirmed that it is considering establishing call centres in India, where labour costs are lower.

BT described the prospect of lower costs stemming from a transfer of jobs as "compelling".

However, the firm has described as "wide of the mark" union claims that 8400 jobs were being relocated to the sub-continent.

A BT spokesman said: "It is true that we are considering whether to establish contact centres in India but we have not made a final decision and the figures for job losses claimed by the union are completely wide of the mark, even if we were to proceed."

A spokesman for the Communication Workers Union, which represents a high proportion of BT workers, said: "We fear that over 8400 UK-based jobs could be moved to India."

About 40,000 people work in more than 200 call centres in Scotland.

The possibility of BT opening call centres in India emerged as the group unveiled a 1.5billion deficit in its pension funds. The pension shortfall update emerged with third-quarter profit figures yesterday which revealed a 37 per cent hike to 521million in the three months to December 31.

A spokesman for BT said: "We would stress that, whatever decision is reached, we would not destroy BT jobs in the UK, only to recreate them in India... Anyone who wanted to stay with BT would be able to do so."

But the union, as well as campaigning against the move simply to try to save jobs here, has cited security issues associated with such a move.

"In these troubled times what government would allow a company to expose the details of the millions of customers contained in BTs database to any foreign nationals?

"We must make the public aware of these issues to gain their support in persuading BT and the many other companies who use outsourcing as a way to inflate their profits to stop this exploitation of workers in other countries."

Scottish Hydro-Electric have announced they are to start trialing broadband delivery over power lines in an effort to assess the commercial potential of offering such a service on a more widespread basis.

The company has stated that it is now fully convinced of its technological ability to deliver 2Mbps broadband over existing power cables, and has ironed out the security issues faced by its rival, Norweb.

recovering a little now and up on the day as volumes pick up :-))

BT insists it will hit no-frills broadband target
15:08 Friday 14th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


Rumours that BT Retail is set to miss a key broadband goal are wide of the mark says the company, which believes it can still hit the magic number
BT said on Friday it was confident that it will have sold at least 500,000 subscriptions to its no-frills broadband package by this summer, despite speculation that the target may be too ambitious to be achieved.

A BT spokesman told ZDNet UK News that the rate of take-up of BT Broadband is still growing strongly and is now close to 10,000 new users per week.

With a marketing campaign planned for the second quarter of 2003, Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, has said he still believes the goal of gaining at least half a million BT Broadband subscribers by this summer is attainable.

In its latest financial results, published on Thursday, BT said weekly sales of BT Broadband are "now exceeding 7,500", and in a press release put out this week announcing a deal with Yahoo! BT disclosed that it now has "over 100,000" BT Broadband customers.

Some in the industry have speculated that these figures indicate that BT Retail will fall short of hitting its 500,000 target, pointing out that at 7,500 new subscribers per week it will take a whole year to add another 400,000 users.

According to BT Retail, though, the picture is actually more rosy.

"Customer growth is now closer to 10,000 per week and the total user base is now significantly more than 100,000. We're still gaining momentum and are confident the 500,000 users target will be hit," explained a BT Retail spokesman.

BT Broadband, unlike most broadband packages, does not include features such as an email account, Web space or any security packages. Instead, customers must get these features from third-parties.

BT is expected to unveil a range of products and applications to be used with BT Broadband this year, including possibly a 'home monitoring' product.

Well I added a few yesterday morning and covering my costs and a little extra


ains

A couple of interesting items from the S Times ..... should help the bottom line in near future




February 16, 2003

BT reconnects with mobile users
Paul Durman



ONLY 15 months after the demerger of its MMO2 mobile-phone business, BT Group is planning a serious assault on the consumer mobile market.
The telecoms giant is working towards a summer launch of a new operation to attract large numbers of mobile-phone users. It is expected that BT will seek to offer a package of fixed and mobile telephony, including text messaging from fixed phones.

BT will tomorrow announce a deal with the British arm of T-Mobile, which will provide the necessary network capacity. T-Mobiles network already carries calls for Virgin Mobile, which it co-owns.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said: I think theres an emerging market in convergence, with people having fixed and mobile lines and wanting unified services.

Harris Jones, the departing head of T-Mobile UK, said: Its very clear that BT is very aggressive about re-entering the mobile space.

He suggested the new BT initiative would be seeking millions of customers. Increasing competition and loss of traffic to mobile phones has put BT under pressure to find new sources of revenue.

BT is already a large mobile service provider to businesses, buying network capacity from MMO2, its former subsidiary.




February 16, 2003 Extracts only

Broadband shines amid the telecoms gloom
The number of homes and firms with high-speed internet access is 1.5m and rising, says Paul Durman



THE gloom in the telecoms industry often seems unremitting. A savage decline in prices and confidence has pushed many companies into financial ruin, and wrecked the hopes of most of those that survive.

It is somehow fitting that 3, aka Hutchison 3G, the company blazing the trail for 3G in Europe, will not be exhibiting at Cannes: it is still tinkering with the software that powers the video phones it hopes to launch next month.

Yet look beyond the gloom and there is a revolution going on. Internet usage continues to grow apace and, in Britain, as in much of the developed world, there is increasingly widespread adoption of broadband high-speed connections that open up new possibilities for entertainment and business use.

Keith Woolcock, an analyst with Nomura International. Theres something big happening, and its called broadband, he says.

Last week BT announced that it is signing up 25,000 customers a week for its broadband service. Including those who use AOL, Freeserve and other access providers, BT now claims 650,000 broadband subscribers, each of them paying at least 27 a month, and is well on course to hit its target of 1m by this summer.

The cable-television companies, NTL and Telewest, also offer broadband, although a different variety known as cable modem. Between them, the cable companies have about 800,000 broadband customers. After a slow start, Britain now has nearly 1.5m homes and small businesses with broadband facilities.

Browsing websites using a broadband connection is a much quicker and more pleasant experience than with a traditional dial-up connection. It is less frustrating, and users are inclined to spend more time on the internet.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewests consumer division, says: People are just doing more of what they did before. Time online is about four times what it was in the dial-up world. Some people are spending more time online than theyre spending on TV. Theres more chat, theres more e-mailing, more photography, more web-browsing. And it is made for the adult market.

The 10 most popular websites among Telewests Blueyonder broadband customers include seven that offer adult entertainment.


At the most basic level, broadband enables you to e-mail large documents that were simply too big to send over a dial-up connection. This potentially allows more people to work from home, saving on transport and congestion costs.

Even more exciting, broadband believers claim the technology will transform the role of the computer, pushing it into the space previously occupied by the television and the hi-fi system.

Early subscribers are already using broadband to exchange music files an illegal phenomenon embraced by tens of millions of users that has caused the collapse of the American singles market.

Patterson says broadband could finally make video-on- demand a reality. Instead of just watching whats on television, viewers could search the web for the particular programme or film that they wished to see perhaps a favourite show broadcast years ago, that someone has digitised and stored on a computer. Patterson says: There are great opportunities for broadband, both in breadth of content and in depth.

Computer games are another big driver of broadband take-up. Faster data flow allows gamers to play their friends in other cities, or even other countries. And in the near future, a simultaneous voice connection will allow gaming rivals to taunt and jeer one another.

BT and the cable companies are looking forward to the British launch next month of Microsofts Xbox Live, which will allow gamers to use their consoles to play games online without having to buy them.

Woolcock argues that the huge corporate investment in technology over the past decade and more was spurred on by the spread of network computing. With many companies now reining back expenditure, he says the real opportunity for broadband lies in the consumer market.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, is not so sure of the extent of consumer demand for broadband.

He is confident that BT can reach 1m or perhaps 2m customers, but he points out that most of these are already heavy internet users. These people, who spend a large amount each month for their internet usage, can easily be persuaded to spend a little more for a much better product, he believes.

Danon says it will be much harder to convert the occasional internet user, who goes online only to do some shopping or to send e-mail. If you spend just 5 a month for your rarely used dial-up connection, why would you spend 27 a month for broadband? Danon says a target of around 5m is not completely stupid, but it is very difficult. I believe the No 1 battle is the battle (to offer) value-added services.

One example is BTs recent partnership with Yahoo, which will provide junk e-mail controls, instant messaging, parental controls, digital photo storage and anti-virus software.

He also speaks highly of a deal with Pixology, a digital- printing firm that will provide cheap prints of digital photos.

In addition, BT is championing the British introduction of so-called wi-fi, a short-range wireless technology that offers much faster data speeds than 3G. Although wi-fi is not truly a mobile technology, the cheap base stations required will allow a roll-out to hotels, coffee shops, airports and train stations where businessmen might stop to check e-mail on their laptops.

Royal Bank to call in BT Group
16 February 2003, Mail on Sunday

PHONES giant BT has clinched a deal, thought to be worth at least 500 million, to run the telecoms systems at Royal Bank of Scotland. The contract is likely to be announced this week and will see the company take over the running of all telecoms systems at RBS for about 50 million a year for the next ten years.

BT ratings to stand despite pensions gap FT

Ainsoph: if you're going to paste all this stuff, I really think you should say where you are cutting it from. Unattributed articles are not of much value.

The key facts about the pension fund seem to me to be contained in this snippet from today's FT article:

"Analysts at UBS Warburg estimate BT's FRS 17 pension deficit to be close to 9.5bn - the high end of estimates - and on that basis this would push BT's lease-adjusted debt obligations from 13.4bn to 22.9bn. BT has one of the largest UK pension funds, with assets of 27bn as of last March."

UBSW's estimate may be at the high end, but if the fund has assets of 27bn a deficit of 9.5bn seems quite plausible, with the equity market down almost 50% (and bearing in mind that the equity portion of the BT fund will almost certainly have underperformed the market).

9bn is more than half of BT's market capitalisation. Even without taking this into account, BT has negative shareholders' funds. This may be another great British disaster in the making.

I thought I had attributed the articles - FT on post 59 - MAS on previous post and ST on post 57.

A lot of peeps have made estimates of the possible shortfall and these are very wide ranging .... BT are comfortable with the situation and happy to pay out of income. As and when the market turns - BT shares will gain double.

Why do you assume 'the equity portion of the BT fund will almost certainly have underperformed the market' ....... perhaps you can give the reasons why you think this to be true.

There are some negative comments doing the rounds and I note my trade is around evens - maybe I will add a few more. Just a ST blip imho


ains


18 February
UBS Warburg has downgraded BT Group to 'reduce' from 'neutral', dropping its share price target to 154p from 180p. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney cut its price target to 200p from 220p.

Hmmmmmm ..... No US market today - will look to add before the market closes - personally happy with the situation on pensions - 166p offer at this time - volumes are averaage

ains



02/17 11:34
BT Group Cut to `Reduce 1' at UBS Warburg(Correct) :BT/A LN
By Jonathan Chambers


(Corrects Price target in body of story)

London, Feb. 17 (Bloomberg Data) -- BT Group PLC (BT/A LN) was downgraded to ``reduce 1'' from ``neutral 1'' by analyst Patrick Foulis at UBS Warburg. The analyst cut the price target on the stock to 154 pence per share from 180 pence previously.

BT gets clearance for consumer wireless expansion

London, February 17 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

BT has confirmed it is to aggressively expand its activity in the consumer wireless sector this summer, little over a year after spinning off its in-house mobile arm O2.


The move will see O2 rival T-Mobile replacing it as the supplier of network capacity for BT's consumer offering Mobile Sense, which the telco aims to expand and generate the main part of the 44m in revenue it has targeted for such activities by 2004/05.

Although BT would not give out specific details of the services it would offer, the move is expected to see it bundle fixed and mobile services for consumers on one bill and promoting services such as text messaging from landline phones. A spokesperson for the company confirmed it had received clearance from telecoms regulator Oftel to press ahead with the new expansion.

T-Mobile is believed to have undercut O2 to supply BT with access to its network. It already allows virtual operator Virgin Mobile to piggyback on its network, and UK CEO Harris Jones said the deal would "accelerate our growth further".

BT signalled its intent to take on the UK mobile operators with the low-key launch of its online service Mobile Sense in October.

The move saw BT offering consumers the chance to build their monthly pricing plans and pay their bills online via the bt.com website, but a BT spokesperson said the service was just a "first step" back into the market. He said the company planned to start targeting consumers offline and offering unified services to its massive residential telephony customer base.

BT Retail consumer MD Angus Porter said: "From this summer, we will be able to offer excellent mobile packages to our customers in the consumer market. Our aim at BT is to connect our customers' worlds completely, and obviously a strong mobile offering is a vital link in that chain.

The new service's launch also forms part of a gradual build-up of BT's activity in the mobile market after spinning off its in-house operator O2 at the end of 2001.

Through mobile business services run through O2 and its wireless LAN (local area network) business Openzone, the company is looking to capture 12% to 15% of the corporate wireless market by 2006/7.

BT is contractually obliged to use O2 for its corporate mobile service for the three years after the firm's demerger, but ongoing rumours have linked it to deals with other operators in the consumer sector since the business service was launched.

more downgrades...u slagged me for saying downgrades would follow the results !!

I said the brokers had mostly already updated .... BT have now stabilised and moving up a tad ..... generates a buying opportunity which is good and my guess is the price hasn't moved any since your last post :-))



ains

you said the brokers had already made their comments. suppose your making lots of dosh longing BT around these prices ? What did u do with the shars you bought in the 1.70's u mentioned ?

I haven't sold any in the last day or two ..... tending to swing trade rather than intraday on these and at the moment happy to accumulate a few


ains

I'd buy mid 1.50's and short around 1.85.just watching developments.

We will see ..... market will soon forget and there will be positive notes out soon - US being closed doesn't help any


ains


17 Feb 2003 14:10 GMT

UPDATE 1-BT to make new consumer wireless bid with T-Mobile

(adds detail, background)
LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - BT Group Plc BT.L , Britain's largest fixed-line telecoms provider, stepped further away from its mobile offspring on Monday when it announced a deal with one of mmO2's OOM.L rivals in a renewed bid for mobile consumers.

BT will be able to offer a bundled fixed and wireless phone service by reselling time on Deutsche Telekom AG's DTEGn.DE T-Mobile [TMOG.UL] network, just over a year after the British company sold its mobile arm mmO2 Plc in order to reduce debt.

"From this summer, we will be able to offer excellent mobile packages to our customers in the consumer market," Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, said. More details would be released closer to the launch, he added.

BT, which resells O2's mobile services to its business customers, had already launched a consumer mobile product with O2 called "Mobile Sense" last October.

Mobile Sense, which BT had primarily targeted at the two million users of its Web site, would carry on until the launch of its new service, a BT Retail spokesman said

"What we're talking about with T-Mobile is a much broader variety of packages," he said.

BT has said before it aims to earn 44 million pounds ($70 million) a year in revenue from consumer mobile and other services by 2005. It jumped back into the corporate wireless market in April last year, hoping to add 500 million pounds in revenue by 2007.

Though BT can enjoy the benefits of mobile earnings without the risk and high cost of network ownership, some analysts wonder how much money can be earned out of reselling agreements.

Virgin Mobile, a British joint venture between entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group [VA.UL] and T-Mobile, has enjoyed success in its first three years, picking up almost 2.4 million subscribers and turning an underlying profit last year.

I will buy these @150 ish looks on the cards as pension is going to be a big burden and with no signs of any improvement in the short term ,If you look around the market place it does not forget easily and bt is a ideal shorting share for the moment they are placing a lot of faith in broadband but on the other hand are theatening to limit data downloads which goes against the whole idea of the ordinary person having broad band in the first place especialy as they advertise downloading music/films etc, take that away and there is no reason for the home user to pay 20+ a month

BT Group and Swisscom AG were active in opening deals after both issues were downgraded in a UBS Warburg review of the fixed-line telecoms sector, dealers said.

BT was moved to 'reduce' from 'neutral' by the broker, on a target price lowered to 154 pence from 180.

Swisscom was moved to 'neutral' from 'buy', with its target cut to 450 skr from 475. Elsewhere in the UBS research, Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom were both kept at 'reduce'.

TeliaSonera AB was upgraded to 'buy' from 'neutral', with its target price raised to 10.3 eur from 8.8. KPN NV Royal, OTE, TDC AS, Telekom Austria, Telenor ASA and Portugal Telecom were reiterated at 'neutral'. Telefonica had its 'reduce' recommendation repeated.

UBS told clients it sees the fixed-line telecoms operators at a crossroads. Sales newsflow has been weak, but cost base reductions have led to upgrades to free cash flow and consequently to share prices, it said. With the sector now valued at a 5% premium to the wider market, UBS mulled whether upgrades would come from further cost-cutting, or whether revenue growth will be the ultimate driver of cash-flow growth. The broker concluded that top-line growth will ultimately be the key driver while further cost-cutting could be hard to achieve. This led it to remain cautious on the sector. Shareholders should not assume they will see 100% of cost-cutting benefits to perpetuity, given high implied post-tax return on invested capital of 20 pct, UBS thought. It was also concerned by the top-line effect of fixed to mobile substitution, wireless termination rate cuts, regulation and overcapacity. The expected squeeze on near-term cashflows led UBS to lower wireline valuations by an average of 7%. Telecom Italia was named as UBS's preferred pick, while TeliaSonera was highlighted as "the cheapest way to play potential restructuring".

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom were considered more leveraged plays, while BT was downgraded because of its leverage into wireline fundamentals.

talk of the Royal Bank of Scotland being close to announcing a renewed contract with BT to manage all of its telecoms systems.

The long-term agreement is still to be signed, but it could be worth around 65 million per annum to BT.




ains

Just a reminder that from yesterday anybody subscribing to BTs BT 'No Frills' Broadband ADSL service will gain two months of free digital music downloads via the operators Dotmusic portal.

The offer is valid until 31st March 2003 and lets you download up to 100 free music tracks from a collection of over 120,000. The standard subscription of 4.99 per month will be reinstated for April.

Fixed wireless broadband too pricey for ISPs
By Dinah Greek [18-02-2003]

Smaller service providers lack resources to roll out more services, says analyst
Few internet service providers (ISPs) have the enthusiasm or cash to roll out further residential wireless broadband services, according to analyst Ovum.
Even the lure of a low reserve price for the 3.4GHz wavelength, previously used for telephony services, may not be enough to tempt many smaller independent ISPs.

And rather than use the frequency to roll out broadband access to consumers, as the government hopes, larger telecoms operators could take advantage of the removal of many restrictions to snap up the licences while continuing to use the frequency as extra bandwidth for their existing services.

"In the financial climate who has got the hunger left to deploy new networks? This means fixed wireless is still struggling to sell," said Michael Philpott, a broadband market analyst with Ovum.

The most likely outcome could be that licences are sold to major players such as BT, according to Philpott.

"They could buy the spectrum and create more than one source of revenue for themselves by offering both retail and wholesale services."

On paper the 3.4GHz spectrum is perfect for broadband deployment to rural areas where cable and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is too expensive to roll out.

It has a similar bandwidth offering to DSL but with a greater reach, and the equipment is cheaper to install than for higher frequency wireless spectrums.

But the main drawback of fixed wireless access is the cost to the ISP and the consumer. Economies of scale mean that ADSL prices are dropping all the time, whereas fixed wireless asset prices are largely standing still.

Dave Thorpe, operations manager for business-to-business ISP Internet Central, based in Norfolk, said: "Investment costs to ISPs for fixed wireless services are enormous.

"There is the investment in hardware that is needed and the bandwidth has to come from somewhere. This usually means linking to a local BT exchange.

"We charge businesses 750 for installation, then 350 per month for a 2Mbps leased line. We couldn't charge this to residential customers so would never get the cost of investment back."

But the Radiocommunications Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry have had a difficult job pitching the licences at the right price, argued Rob Mortimer at wireless DSL equipment vendor Alvarion.

Removing restrictions that would force operators to provide broadband access would not necessarily backfire, he said.

"While companies such as Vodafone and Orange could be interested in the 3.4GHz spectrum for backhaul services, there is a lot of interest from rural ISPs to provide broadband services."

By Tim Richardson
Posted: 18/02/2003 at 12:25 GMT


BT may fall short of reaching its target of one million broadband customers by the end of June, according to a report just published.

Enders Analysis reports that the wholesale take-up of BT's DSL service is currently growing at an "exceptional" pace and that this would have to be sustained until the summer for BT to meet its target.

During January, the report says BT Wholesale connected 70,000 ADSL lines, compared to an average of 50,000 a month during Q3 2002.

This is disputed by BT Wholesale, which said that in January more than 80,000 DSL lines were connected. It also claims that connection rates are accelerating with 25,000 connected in the first week of February alone.

As long as these levels of take-up are sustained then BT looks set to hit its target. A spokesman for BT Wholesale said the telco remains "absolutely confident" that it will do so.

But Enders Analysis isn't so sure, which is why it is taking a more cautious approach, suggesting that it would be "touch-and-go" whether BT Wholesale hits its million mark.

Of course, whether BT misses its target by a few weeks is not really of any great consequence. The important thing is that with more than 650,000 DSL connections in the UK, broadband is beginning to make its mark. But at what cost?

According to the report, BT has been forced to rethink its broadband strategy following the "disappointing" take-up of its much-hyped, no-frills, access-only BT Broadband service.

When it was launched last year some analysts predicted that this access-only product could sign the death warrant for traditional service and content-included ISPs.

But with only 100,000-plus customers so far and millions spent on promoting the product, BT is still way-off the tough 500,000 target it set itself for the end of June.

Publicly, BT is still optimistic that it will hit this target, something challenged by Enders Analysis.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the fact that BT Broadband's failure to catch on as hoped has breathed new life into the telco's ISP, BT Openworld, which was effectively kicked into the long-grass last year.

Now it seems BT is ready to spend cash on it once again in a bid to increase numbers and help it reach the million.

Tuesday 18th February 2003


Broadband UK Internet connections reach one in ten
[Computer Buyer] 12:32

The Office of National Statistics has covered the month of December 2002 in its latest monthly report on UK Internet connectivity.
The headline figure is that the total number of subscriptions for access to the Internet actually fell - month on month - by 1.1 per cent. This is attributed to seasonal factors involving the Christmas holiday. On a yearly basis, however, Internet connectivity grew 7.4 per cent compared with December 2001.

Of more interest is the statistic that 10.1 per cent of subscriptions to the Internet now involve fast dedicated access (broadband or fixed lines). The Office of National Statistics reports that the yearly growth for permanent connections was 262.7 per cent, with an increase of 7.3 per cent from November to December 2002.

By contrast, the relative decline of dial-up connections - which include ISDN - has continued. The figure for December 2002 stands at 89.9 per cent, down from the 97 per cent of all subscriptions in December 2001.

Make no mistake, however - this is not to say that one in ten people now enjoy broadband. The official figures relate to the nature of Internet subscriptions. Nevertheless, the stats provide a useful and consistent indication of the take up of broadband.

Alun Williams

The share price seems to have'bottomed at around 165/169p ..... time to add a few in the very next intraday dip ..... some useful shareholder offers on new phones - we need a new cordless as some of the current ones we use are nearly three years old and batteries are starting to wear out - like the look of the On Air 2300SMS exec which enables you to send/receive teaxt messages as well as incorporating an ansaphone ..... save around 70 on a base unit + three extra handsets ......

ains



BTo gets tough with Sat bandwidth hogs - again
By Tim Richardson The Reigister
Posted: 17/02/2003 at 13:48 GMT


BT Openworld has threatened around 40 of its broadband satellite customers that it might have to cap their service if they continue to hog bandwidth.

In a letter to customers BT's ISP has warned them that they have been "using an excessive amount of bandwidth on a regular basis".

And unless they curtail their usage, then BT Openworld warned: "We will soon have to start imposing bandwidth limitations on your account at peak hours so that all our customers have a fair share of bandwidth."

Of course, instead of imposing a restriction, BT Openworld wants to work with those heavy users in a bid to help them manage their usage more effectively.

A spokesman for BT Openworld told The Register that it did not want to cap usage or kick anyone off the service for over-use and hoped that those people contacted would co-operate.

Indeed, when BT Openworld warned satellite customers last September about over-use, the matter was resolved without any further action on BT's behalf, he said.



BT may fall short of reaching its target of one million broadband customers by the end of June, according to a report just published.

Enders Analysis reports that the wholesale take-up of BT's DSL service is currently growing at an "exceptional" pace and that this would have to be sustained until the summer for BT to meet its target.

During January, the report says BT Wholesale connected 70,000 ADSL lines, compared to an average of 50,000 a month during Q3 2002.

This is disputed by BT Wholesale, which said that in January more than 80,000 DSL lines were connected. It also claims that connection rates are accelerating with 25,000 connected in the first week of February alone.

As long as these levels of take-up are sustained then BT looks set to hit its target. A spokesman for BT Wholesale said the telco remains "absolutely confident" that it will do so.

But Enders Analysis isn't so sure, which is why it is taking a more cautious approach, suggesting that it would be "touch-and-go" whether BT Wholesale hits its million mark.

Of course, whether BT misses its target by a few weeks is not really of any great consequence. The important thing is that with more than 650,000 DSL connections in the UK, broadband is beginning to make its mark. But at what cost?

According to the report, BT has been forced to rethink its broadband strategy following the "disappointing" take-up of its much-hyped, no-frills, access-only BT Broadband service.

When it was launched last year some analysts predicted that this access-only product could sign the death warrant for traditional service and content-included ISPs.

But with only 100,000-plus customers so far and millions spent on promoting the product, BT is still way-off the tough 500,000 target it set itself for the end of June.

Publicly, BT is still optimistic that it will hit this target, something challenged by Enders Analysis.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the fact that BT Broadband's failure to catch on as hoped has breathed new life into the telco's ISP, BT Openworld, which was effectively kicked into the long-grass last year.

Now it seems BT is ready to spend cash on it once again in a bid to increase numbers and help it reach the million.

Wednesday February 19, 01:52 PM





BT pulls discount offer that breached licence


LONDON (Reuters) - Telecoms regulator Oftel has said that former telecoms monopoly BT Group (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) has withdrawn a discount offer that put it in breach of its licence.


Oftel issued a provisional order against BT following a complaint by telecoms firm Vanco (LSE: VAN.L - news) about RHM, a BT service reseller which had offered a discount to IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) while Vanco attempted to sign up the U.S. computer giant itself. BT's licence says it must publish any discounts offered to customers.


"I welcome the steps BT has taken to comply with its licence and the commitments it has given to ensure that similar unacceptable behaviour does not occur again," David Edmonds, director general of telecommunications, said in a statement.

oops ..... main market down 1.84% - sector down 3.12% - BT down 4.46%




ains



UK games machine operator looks to broadband

London, February 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

Leisure Link, the games machine giant, has inked a multi-million pound deal for the supply of broadband as part of an expansion plan which will see it roll out 18,000 more digital terminals over the next three years.


The company's digital division, Inspired Broadcast Networks (IBN), is paying BT 17.5m to provide ADSL lines to its pay-to-play touch-screen machines, which provide punters with fixed-odds betting, quiz and arcade games in pubs, amusement arcades, service stations and betting shops across the country.

The agreement will see the 3,000 terminals IBN currently operates upgraded from ISDN by September, and 18,000 new broadband lines installed to facilitate the roll-out of a raft of new betting and gaming machines and services over the next three years.

IBN chairman Russell Hoyle told netimperative that potential new services would include digital music delivery and downloading of content to mobile phones. It currently allows mobile users to pay for ring-tones via its machines.

Hoyle added that the ADSL upgrade would allow it to increase the number and sophistication of the games available, to manage the content better, fix faults remotely and change services overnight.

Slot and games machine operators are increasingly looking to the web for such benefits. Swedish online gambling software company Boss Media recently launched an interactive video terminal allowing fruit machine firms to increase the games on offer on one device and users to continue gambling when they leave the arcade, from their PC or mobile.

Leisure Link is the UK's largest amusement machine provider with 90,000 terminals in 30,000 locations.

BT explores slower ADSL in search for long-range broadband
17:46 Wednesday 19th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


Is your house located too far from the local exchange for 512Kbps broadband to work? BT is working on a possible solution
BT is examining the possibility of offering a 256Kbps ADSL product that would extend the reach of broadband across the UK.

Trials are still at an early stage, but it is possible that this product could help to close Britain's broadband divide. A significant proportion of homes are located too far from their local exchange for BT's current consumer broadband product -- which runs at 512Kbps -- to work, because of technical limitations.



A slower ADSL product could be commercially viable if it works well enough over a longer distance, BT hopes.

edited

19 Feb 2003 17:04 GMT

BT seeks to calm on India plan after strike threat

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - BT Group Plc BT.L , Britain's former telecoms monopoly, sought to reassure employees on Wednesday after strike threats from union officials who say BT plans to move 700 call centre jobs to India.
BT, which has been forced to cut costs to boost profits despite stagnant revenue growth, said no call centres would be shut down in Britain if it decided to move some work abroad.

"In line with sensible business practice, we will always review our operations to help us provide our customers with the best standard of service at the most competitive cost," the company said in a statement.

Jeannie Drake, director general of the Communication Workers Union, has written to 3,500 BT workers to say the union would resist "by all means possible" the move of jobs out of the UK.

I repeat my earlier comments that I am not over concerned on the pensions front and think the market is wrong to over sell

ains



BT plays down pension concerns

IAIN DEY BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT Scotsman


BTS FINANCE director insisted yesterday that he was not overly concerned by the 1.5 billion deficit in the firms pension fund, despite no imminent prospect of a stock market recovery.

Scot Ian Livingston, in Edinburgh to brief investors on BTs full-year results, claimed the methods of calculating pension fund values has led to a degree of "misinformation" over the true state of the fund.

He also insisted that BT was more than doing its fair share to increase broadband internet access in Scotland.

Livingston told The Scotsman: "While the pension deficit has got worse, it hasnt got dramatically worse. The critical thing is that although the market has fallen, the cash-flow into the fund hasnt changed dramatically. Dividends, rentals from property and that sort of thing havent really changed."

He added: "Between 1996 and 1999, our fund went from a small surplus to a small deficit, despite the fact that the FTSE went from around 4,000 to around 6,900. But many of the companies who were driving up the market were dotcoms, which didnt pay a dividend. Since the market has fallen, many people think Oh well the deficit must be much bigger now. But no."

The BT pension deficit has swelled from 200 million in March 2000 to between 1 billion and 1.5 billion, although some analysts have claimed the company is attempting to understate the extent of the problem. BT is now injecting an extra 200 million a year to cover the deficit.

In Scotland, Livingston said BT was continuing to upgrade exchanges to broadband status, at a cost of up 500,000, wherever there is sufficient demand.

Ten Scottish exchanges - Culloden, Kilsyth, Helensburgh, Newton Mearns, Cambuslang, Ardrossan, Bathgate, Largs plus one exchange in Irvine and another in Aberdeen - will be upgraded in the next few weeks.

Livingston said: "The problem is not supply, its demand. If the demand is there, well build."

He added: "If people want an infrastructure that they could be proud of, we need the government and everyone else to do it with us."

moving up with the market intraday ....



Jane Wakefield
BBC News Online technology staff


BT Retail's Chief Executive Pierre Danon shares his vision for the future of broadband in the UK and points out where the old BT went wrong

BT spent millions on advertising broadband
Getting people to pay for a raft of new services will be the next stage in BT's broadband strategy, as the telecoms giant tries to persuade people to abandon dial-up modems in favour of fast net connections.

In an interview with BBC News Online, head of BT Retail Pierre Danon put content rather than increased bandwidth at the top of the company's agenda.

He acknowledged that the UK net audience is unlikely to increase much beyond 50% of the population.

Instead the real challenge for broadband providers will be in persuading those with dial-up connections to make the switch.

BT is hoping to tempt consumers by offering services such as 24-hour home surveillance and educational content, offering parents access to the curriculum materials in return for a small monthly fee.

Net market

In countries such as Korea, where 60% of its population use broadband, operators have instead opted for more bandwidth, hoping that services will follow.

But it is vital to create such a marketplace on the net, said Mr Danon.

"The real battleground will be over how much people are willing to pay. Most of the internet today is free and the battle of the future will be on what is not free," he said.

Despite seeing content rather than speed as the way forward, BT is determined to distant itself from being a content provider, setting up deals with firms such as Yahoo instead.

Mr Danon is scathing of attempts to lump content and access together.

"AOL Time Warner said access and content needed to be together and it is a failure," he said.

Content dilemma

BT is constantly scotching rumours that it is interested in developing content itself, describing itself as the plumber of the internet, more interested in pipes than Harry Potter.


15 months ago the UK was the last country in the world on broadband, nobody was taking it. BT was going through disaster

Pierre Danon, BT
So what is the future for BT Openworld, the ISP which offers both dial-up and broadband access and content?

Mr Danon plays up Openworld's role as a small business ISP, admitting that it is not the consumer business that is the most successful.

"On the consumer side I personally have a view that it will be difficult to really do content because there are companies like Yahoo, MSN and AOL already doing that well," he said.

"BT Openworld will not be a content provider or producer but will put content together for customers," he said.

BT's controversial product, BT Broadband, which offers people a no-frills net connection with no webspace or e-mail address is seen by Mr Danon as the way forward, offering users a launch pad for shopping for various services on the net.

He is convinced that BT will hit its target of having half a million customers to the no-frills service by the middle of the year, although with just 100,000 so far signed up it might have its work cut out.

BT in chaos

Other ISPs have been incensed by the product, which they say offers BT an unfair advantage in the market.

Mr Danon insists BT is breaking no regulatory law with its no-frills product although he admits that Oftel's regulation has been "lighter".

He sees the no frills product as a breakthrough for a company whose broadband strategy was floundering.

"15 months ago the UK was the last country in the world on broadband, nobody was taking it. BT was going through disaster," he admits.

Efforts by the regulator to limit BT's dominance of the market did nothing to help.

"By forbidding BT to enter this market, the only thing that was done was to weaken the UK," he said.

Rather than complain he thinks other ISPs should be grateful for the broadband momentum BT has kick-started.

"Overall other ISPs are benefiting because as soon as we entered the market with an advertising campaign the business for everyone exploded, including AOL and Freeserve," he said.

Vanguard of change

The company was afraid of new technology and ashamed of its legacy

Pierre Danon, BT
BT itself looks healthier than in the recent past. The latest quarterly results showed a 37% increase in profits and a further 195m shaved off its infamous debt.

It has been a much publicised struggle to transform BT from out-of-date behemoth, scathing of new technology to a forward-thinking company.

Mr Danon joined the company in October 2000 and feels he, in partnership with chief executive Ben Verwaayen, has been at the vanguard of change.

"Ben and I are movement people. You don't win by conservatism," he said.

By contrast, two years ago BT was between a rock and a hard place, he said.

"The company was afraid of new technology and ashamed of its legacy."

"Ben came along as an outsider and said 'Guys you have it all wrong, broadband is the future and you have to take risks and invest'" he said.

Now Mr Danon says BT is in a more contented place, happier to embrace new net technology while at the same time proud of its voice business.

Intel and Virgin join BT as shareholders in Broadreach Networks
20 February 2003 11:27
By Staff
Broadreach Networks announced that Intel Capital and Virgin have joined BT Group as investors in the company. The investment round, led by VCF Partners, also attracted funds under the management of VCF, Yorkshire Fund Managers and Generics Asset Management. Financial details of the investment have not been disclosed.

Broadreach is a provider of broadband Internet access for users on the move, through both fixed-point terminals and, wireless local area networks (WLAN) access zones in public locations. It is backed by British Telecommunications, a broadband access provider in the UK. Broadreach, formerly known as Womba Telecom, has a network of over 350 terminals in 37 locations. Womba was formed in May 2000, as a spinout from Arthur D Little, the international management consultancy firm known for its specialization in communications technologies. Broadreachs network includes a range of blue chip companies such as Virgin Megastores, LA Fitness and EAT/Railtrack.

hmmmmmmmm ..... currently 163.5p up with the market and sector



LEHMAN CUTS BT TARGET

Investment bank Lehman Brothers has cut its share price target for BT Group BT.L to 200 pence from 245p, retaining its "underweight" rating on the stock.

Lincolnshire gets broadband boost

London, February 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

Lincolnshire County Council has received a 7m grant from the European Union to subsidise broadband services for 3,000 rural businesses in the county.


The grant, reaped from the European Regional Development Fund, will be used to help firms pay for high-speed services and attract broadband providers, which have so far shown a reluctance to invest in infrastructure to serve many rural areas.

The council, which has itself put a further 7m into the project, also hopes to attract technology companies to the county and to improve internet links for residential users.

It will start taking applications for subsidies from businesses later this year, and hopes to offer further funding to support take-up of IT applications once the infrastructure is in place.

The project will expand on the county's existing scheme, NETLinc, which has connected around 450 schools and public sites in the area under the Government's National Grid for Learning initiative.

The new project mirrors similar public-private partnerships that have been set up to aid broadband roll out in non-metropolitan areas across the country.

One such scheme, the ActNow project in Cornwall, recently expanded after signing up 2,500 small businesses in the county in its first nine months.

Im afraid 150 is looking highly possible or even lower i have order for 145 on this stock as with war poss and markets down across the board generely and with the pension probs , also under threat from competion with cable especialy if telewest/ntl can get their act together ie debt ,the chart does not bode well either

Yes, looks as if you're barking up the wrong tree with this one, Ainsoph.

By the way, the reason I said the equity portion of the pension fund had almost certainly underperformed the market was simply that in any year 75% of fund managers do underperform their benchmarks. For the same reason, it's likely that the bond portion has underperformed the bond market and so on.

maybe ..... have added a few more and averaging around 166p ..... my 3rd biggest holding as of today .... they are still favoured by natwest in their latest review - within the sector where they are neutral on the sector.


I would expect them to start outperforming any time soon - Oftel and the pension thingy has had a more adverse effect than warrants but has allowed me to accumulate a few at bargain prices.


ains

BT rejects fixed wireless broadband plan
By Sarah Arnott [20-02-2003]

Government's 3.4GHz auction doomed to failure, say suppliers
Plans to auction wireless licences for broadband communications are in danger of becoming a fiasco.
The Department of Trade & Industry's (DTI's) auction of 15 regional licences to use the 3.4GHz spectrum will go ahead in May.

The government hopes that the new frequency will fill the gaps in Broadband Britain's costly fixed-line infrastructure.

But BT, which analyst Ovum touted as one of the most likely bidders, isn't interested. Pierre Danon, chief executive at BT Retail, described the government's policy as "stupid".

Talking exclusively to vnunet.com's sister title Computing, Danon added: "We warned the government very early that it was stupid to do 15 bids. We are certainly not bidding."

Supplier body Intellect also warned that the sale may not attract any bidders and analyst Ovum said smaller ISPs would also shun the auctions despite the low reserve prices set because of the cost of rolling out services.

The last attempt to sell off wireless licences was for the 28GHz spectrum in 2000, but only 30 per cent of the licences were sold and the third round of auctions is still going on.

Suppliers are wary of auctions because of the higher costs involved, explained Graham Macdonald, senior radio executive at Intellect.

"I am concerned that we will have a repeat of the 28GHz situation with 3.4GHz," he said.

The 15-licence model also contradicts government commitments to Broadband Britain because suppliers will only be interested in licences covering high-population areas guaranteeing a return on investment, according to Macdonald.

A spokeswoman for the DTI said: "The decision to have 15 licences is the result of more than two years of consultation, and that was the choice that came out of the process."

Comment: BT offers no SDSL guarantees
Martin Courtney, IT Week [14-02-2003]

edited

The prospect of cheaper 2Mbit/s wide area network (WAN) connections becoming more widely available in the UK is good news for IT managers. But unless BT backs up its wholesale Symmetric DSL (SDSL) bandwidth with service level agreements (SLAs) - stipulating service guarantees for reliability, and compensation in the event of failure - third-party providers might find corporates reluctant to sign up for their SDSL services. Not that this would be a total disaster for BT, which makes a lot of money from the leased line services that SDSL links threaten to replace

"Broadband to cover many more areas" - MP
Letter: There is no doubt that the majority of telephone exchanges which can provide broadband access are sited in urban areas.

Constituents from Little Chalfont and other areas where the exchange cannot currently provide broadband services have been in touch with me, lobbying for the service.

Broadband allows the customer to download or to send data by computer much faster than on ordinary telephone lines. The new technology can also deal with high quality graphics or music, much faster than previous systems.

Businesses can benefit from this technology.

An Early Day Motion which I signed earlier this month demonstrated that, if rural businesses are unable to access affordable broadband services, they are at a commercial disadvantage to their urban-based competitors.

There is encouraging news, though.

A couple of weeks ago, I met senior representatives from BT and learned that the technology is available to convert more rural exchanges to provide broadband. The key is for everyone who wants this technology whether private or business users to register their interest with BT or with their internet service providers.

The areas where there is a high level of registration are the areas which are top of the list when it comes to conversion.

Following my meeting with BT, I learned that residents of Holmer Green should receive the service from April 16. Sufficient numbers of people wishing to use the service have registered and so the service has been triggered.

People who live or work in Penn should be able to use broadband services, because the exchange was recently "enabled."

The Minister for E-Commerce and competitiveness, Stephen Timms, has also got in touch with me to say that every school should have broadband services by 2006.

In theory, that means that once the technology is put into every school, people living nearby should also be able to receive the service.

At the moment, the Minister says, about one in four schools in England have broadband access.

However, I recognise that people want to make use of the services as soon as they can, rather than waiting for the service to be "rolled out".

People living in Little Chalfont, Cholesbury or The Lee need to put in their registrations and persuade employers and neighbours to do the same.

For information on how to register please go to this site: www.bt.com/ broadband

It gives information on links.

Cheryl Gillan, MP

Chesham and Amersham

13:31 Friday 21st February 2003

BT...looking weak.

This looks promising and should help them continue Fridays progress

ains


LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC chairman Sir Christopher Bland is preparing to unleash a new wave of cost-cutting at the telecoms giant as he attempts to get to grips with the company's plunging share price, the Business reported citing industry sources.
Bland has moved to reassure the group's largest shareholders that the renewed declines in BT's market value, prompted by pension deficit fears, will not be tolerated, and that new savings will have to be found to lift profit margins.

A BT spokesman told AFX News that "there is more that can be done, and more to do" to cut the company's costs, but would not give specific details.

BT is known to be finalising a new round of cost reduciton programmes, including a major IT outsourcing agreement that will significantly lower call-centre expenditures.
The contract is expected to be announced within weeks, the newspaper said

BT plans 1.5bn injection to cover pension gap
By Robert Budden, Telecommunications correspondent
Published: February 23 2003 21:58 | Last Updated: February 23 2003 21:58 edited


BT Group, which runs one of Britain's largest pension schemes, is preparing to plough up to a further 1.5bn ($2.4bn) into its scheme to plug a widening deficit.


The move, which will mark one of the largest cash injections by a company into its pension fund, confirms a worrying trend as growing numbers of European companies suffer from record pension shortfalls after the Worst stock market performance for almost three decades.



BT, currently in the middle of a full three-year actuarial valuation of its pension scheme, is understood to have calculated that additional cash injections of between 70m and 100m a year over the next fifteen years are required to restore financial stability to its pension fund.

The additional payments, to be formally announced in May, will more than double BT's existing financial commitments to its pension. To make up its shortfall, BT is already committed to inject 200m a year into its pension in the five years to the end of March 2007.

The expected move follows sharp falls in stock markets. At the end of 2001, BT calculated the funding deficit in its pension scheme had reached 1.6bn. But, with approximately two thirds of its fund invested in equities, this hole will have now widened substantially.

Outperforming the market on a down day intraday


9:50am (UK)
BT Linked to Higher Pension Charge

By Graeme Evans, City Staff, PA News


Telecoms giant BT is poised to spend up to 100 million a year on plugging the 1.5 billion black hole in its pension fund, it was reported today.

The company, which runs one of the UKs largest pension schemes, will make the payments on top of existing commitments, the Financial Times said.

It is thought that BT will provide between 70 million and 100 million annually for the next 15 years on top of the 1 billion it already plans to contribute in the five years to March 2007.

BT announced a possible 1.5 billion black hole earlier this month after seeing falling stock markets hit the value of pension fund investments.

But it also said it had been advised that its payments were unlikely to change significantly from the current 200 million a year.

The company added today: The final results of our actuarial valuation will be known in May and until the results are known any figure is of course speculation.

The deficit, which BT said could be in the region of 1 billion to 1.5 billion, compared with 200 million at March 31, 2000.

Concerns over the pension fund overshadowed the groups third quarter results announcement two weeks ago, when a 37% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to 521 million was at the upper end of market expectations.

Supermarket giant Tesco has already announced it intends to pay 15 million to 20 million a year during the next 10 years to plug its pensions shortfall.
s

BT plays down pension gap reports

Staff and agencies
Monday February 24, 2003

BT, the telecommunications giant, today played down reports that it would have to inject an extra 1.5bn into its pension fund.
The Financial Times reported that BT was about to plough 70m to 100m a year over 15 years into its pension fund, but BT called the report speculation.

"It is speculation," a BT spokesman told Reuters. "The results [of the pension review] are not due until May."

BT is due to announce in May a pension funding gap, based on new accounting standards. Sharp falls in share prices have led to huge financial holes in pension funds at Britain's largest companies.

Under a new accounting rule, companies must use current market prices to value their pension assets - a method that threatens to reveal some big funding shortfalls in plans that have invested a large proportion of their money in shares. Stock markets have fallen in the last three years in the worst bear market since the early 1970

Previously, companies used actuarial methods, which allow them to make assumptions about long-term investment returns to determine the health of their pension funds.

For guidance, BT's actuary has used the old accounting standards to put the deficit at the end of last year at 1bn to 1.5bn. BT's finance director, Ian Livingston, said at the time the company did not expect the annual pension deficit payment to be much different from its current 200m. "Our actuary has told us that there's nothing to cause that figure to change," he told reporters.

BT's final salary scheme is one of the largest in the UK with more than 376,000 members and assets of 27bn as of March last year. BT is not alone in having to replenish depleted pension funds.

On Guardian Unlimited

Sounds as though they're still in denial, Ains. :-)

I think the pension fund is more robust than the market thinks .... BT are playing it down because that's also the way they see it



ains

London residents now have an innovative new way of sending messages to friends and loved ones with BT Internet Kiosks video and photo email.

Visitors to Internet Kiosk "blue boxes" at 8 locations in London will be able to record a 30 second video clip of themselves and email it to the friend of their choice. The technology is quick and simple to use, with detailed instructions to guide novices through - video clips can even be reviewed and re-recorded before sending, so they can be word perfect when they reach their intended recipient.

Video and photo email is being introduced for an evaluation period, should the service prove successful BT Internet kiosk will look at providing at more of its network of over 1,000 Internet enabled kiosks.

Video and Photo email will be available at the following locations:

Outside 220 Top Shop Oxford Street.
Cranbourn Street, (On the walk between Leicester Sq and Covent Garden).
Prebend Street, Islington.
Victoria Coach Station.
Heathrow Terminal 3 outside Burger King.
Waterloo Railway Station.
Harrow shopping centre outside McDonald's.
Thistle hotel in Marble Arch.

not helping the share price much at this time though .....


by Richard Agnew

BT is offering free trials of video and photo email from its web-enabled payphones in London before launching the service on a one-off charge basis next month.


The trial, lasting for the next two weeks, allows users to record a 30-second clip of themselves and send it on to friends and relatives free of charge.

It has been made available at kiosks on Oxford Street, Cranbourn Street, Prebend Street and at Victoria Bus Station, Heathrow Terminal 3, Waterloo and the St. Georges Centre in Harrow.

The company will then charge 1 for video emails and 50p for photo messages from 8 March and, if the trial is successful, extend the services to the rest of the country.

BT aims to have 20,000 internet-enabled payphones up and running over the next five years, most of which will by fitted with high-speed connections.

It currently has 1,200 installed and earlier this month began shipping a new range of broadband-enabled kiosks from Marconi.

13:42 Monday 24th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


BT believes it can increase ADSL's range without slashing its bandwidth, meaning that another 600,000 homes should be able to get a 512Kbps service after all
A longer-range broadband product being developed by BT will be just as fast as its existing consumer ADSL service, contrary to earlier suggestions from the telco.

This 'extended reach' ADSL is being trialled by just 10 people, but a larger trial is expected to begin in late March.

By increasing the distance over which ADSL will work, BT hopes to reduce the number of households that cannot get broadband -- even though their local exchange has been upgraded -- because they live too far away from the exchange.

Up to 6 percent of households in ADSL-enabled areas suffer from this problem. Technical limitations mean that today's 512Kbps ADSL won't work properly if the line loss on a telephone line is greater than 55dB -- equivalent to a line length of about 5.5km.

According to BT, this 'extended reach' broadband will halve the number of households whose line quality is too poor for ADSL to work.

"We are conducting internal trials, looking to extend the maximum line loss permitted from 55dB to 60dB. The impact of this would be to increase ADSL coverage in enabled areas from today's 94 percent to 97 percent," a BT Wholesale spokesman told ZDNet UK News on Monday.

Before BT launched rate-adaptive DSL, the maximum line loss allowed was 41dB, a maximum line length of just 3.5km.

BT had said last week that this forthcoming extended reach ADSL would run at 256Kbps rather than 512Kbps, a statement reported by ZDNet UK.

However, BT has now said that this is not the case, and that it hopes to raise the maximum line loss without dropping the bandwidth.

This confusion within BT seems to have arisen because BT Wholesale is also developing a 256Kbps ADSL product. This, though, is at a very early stage. According to BT, some Internet service providers would like to be able to offer a cheaper and slower broadband product, so it is investigating whether such a service is commercially and technically feasible.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

20 more exchanges to get ADSL
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 24/02/2003 at 14:56 GMT


Another20 exchanges are to be converted to ADSL during May as part of BT's ongoing scheme to respond to hotspots of demand for broadband.

So far, 23 exchanges have been converted to ADSL as part of BT's pre-registration scheme. A further 135 are currently being upgraded.

Oh, and there are around 25 exchanges that are within a smidge of reaching their targets which, once reached, will result in BT upgrades to ADSL.

Anyhow, the following are all due to be converted to ADSL during May:

BRIXWORTH, Northamptonshire
GOOLE, Humberside
SLEAFORD, Lincolnshire
NEWTOWN, Mid Glamorgan
NEW MILLS, Derbyshire
HALSTEAD, Essex
THIRSK, North Yorkshire
ALRESFORD, Hampshire
LIPHOOK, Hampshire
HORSELEY FIELDS, West Midlands
GALASHIELS, Borders
NORTH SHORE, Lancashire
TOTNES, Devon
WARGRAVE, Berkshire
OAKHAM, Leicestershire
HEADLEY DOWN, Hampshire
SOUTHWELL, Nottinghamshire
TAVISTOCK, Devon
IRVINE OLDTOWN, Strathclyde
LOOSE, Kent

Congrats to all.

Monday 24 February 2003, 11:28:25 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Sarah Brown
BT have struck a deal with Internet security solutions firm, SonicWALL, Inc. who, under the contract, will supply products from its range of firewall appliances, which will form BTs entry-level firewall offering to its web hosting customers.

140/150 still looking likley as pension poss looking worse than first thought

not aware that it looked worse .... BT just following the market down with FTSE100 down nearly 3% - sector about the same ...... there is just one top 100 riser at this time and thats just a maths thing on two decimal places


ains



BT denies it needs 1.5bn pension plug

Richard Wray
Tuesday February 25, 2003
The Guardian

BT yesterday moved to quell fears that it will have to make a massive one-off payment into its pension fund to deal with an ever-deepening funding black
hole.

The company's auditor, Watson Wyatt, is still carrying out a five-month audit of BT's pension fund, which has 346,000 members and is one of the largest in the private sector.

Earlier this month BT insiders indicated that the fund could be as much as 2.5bn in the red, compared with 1bn three years ago, because of the decline in the value of shares since the heady days of the dotcom boom.

The company's triennial funding valuation is calculated using everything from share price levels to property values. The current audit is expected to be completed by May.

When the last triennial audit was carried out the company increased its annual payment into the fund by 200m over five years.

That payment is expected to increase slightly, with BT rolling its top-up payments over a longer period in order to boost the fund.

Speculation that the company will have to make a 1.5bn one-off payment to cover liabilities was denied yesterday.

"Our actuaries have indicated to us that they see no reason for us to significantly increase our annual top-up payments," a BT spokesman said.

The collapse in share prices across the world has left a number of leading British companies, including Rolls-Royce and British Airways, nursing large pension fund deficits.

Many companies which had been able to take "pension holidays" are finding it necessary to pour money into their funds in order to cover recent losses.

Pharmaceuticals group GlaxoSmithKline, which employs more than 100,000 people, recently announced its fund was 1.3bn in the red.

according to express today even if contributions upped to 250mil a year this would still take 20 YEARS to plug but dresner report says not even 300 mil year would be enough that is taking at todays stock market value if it drops even further which looks likley then they will have large prob and with market share dropping ie twt/ntl etc with less revenue coming in etc that does not bode well for future share price

Clearly the market is about people taking opposing views .... the review of the pension fund is yet to take place. The fund was closed a while back and I believe the staff and the trustees are happy with the situation and the measures that are being proposed. As and when the markets improve so BT will gain both ways. Market share is not what it's all about. That's just one factor in the marketing/pricing/ (and more importantly) net profits mix.

Bt are still the preferred supplier and preferred company within the sector. I use all the companies you mention and have recently disconnected TWT line as it is far more expensive than BT.

If you believe there will be a further financial meltdown then clearly you will sell both BT and the market ..... I think we are close to the bottom and therefore a bull on the market and BT. In a year or so we will see who is right.


ains

i think the share price has further to go down yet but im not saying it is a basket case by any means as if the war starts the markets could rally and a lot of the pension deficit would be wiped out but short term with the pension , war etc i think the bears will win the case i have a order for 145 so if it reaches that i will snaffle a few thousand up


Biffa

We will see .... yesterday it was about the market and especially the pensions situation - clearly not helped by the PRU. but believe way oversold. I took the advantage of adding at 154.5p just ahead of the close - as a ST trade expecting a bounce today/tomorrow (see trading thread for tuesday) Still happy to hold as a longer term play.


ains

Quite a few FTSE shares are holding up...i think its about basket case shares getting nailed.Might buy some a bit lower,predictions are for a low in the coming weeks.

BT was 176 when this thread was started,now 155..quite a fall in a few weeks.

BT are about the same as sector over the same period and tracking the FTSE100 quite closely.

Clearly the pension thingy is haveing an over adverse effect - still happy to hold with average around sub 160p at this time




ains

Needs to stay above 153p



Broadband appeal

RESIDENTS across the region are being urged to register their interest in broadband in a bid to bring the high-speed internet service to more exchanges in Dumfries and Galloway.

Currently, the service is only available to users of the Dumfries telecommunications exchange, allowing householders and businesses access to the internet and send e-mails ten times faster than by dial-up modem.

Dumfries MP Russell Brown recently visited Blaines Restaurant in the town to find out how broadband is benefiting businesses and he met with British Telecom to discuss how broadband can be extended to more areas in the region.

With the enabling of an exchange costing up to 500,000, BT told Mr Brown it needs to ensure there is a genuine and reasonable demand before the investment is made.

The firm has launched a registration scheme, with trigger marks, at which point they will install broadband.

In Dumfries and Galloway, out of the 13 other exchanges, only Stranraer has been set a trigger target. But that is at 300 and only 61 customers have registered.

Mr Brown said: If 300 customers register in Stranraer, BT will bring broadband to them.

However, BT Scotland has also said that even if an exchange has not been allocated a trigger, it will still check the number of customers registered against it.

I know from local people contacting my office that people outwith Dumfries would like the opportunity to access broadband.

If sufficient demand is shown in areas such as Annan, Langholm, Moffat and Lockerbie, then BT says it will consider giving an exchange a trigger level to meet and right now, that is currently the best way of bringing broadband into the area with all the benefits that will accrue for businesses and consumers.

So it is in everyones interest that as many people as possible register their interest in broadband. With access to it, businesses can gain a vital competitive edge in sales, marketing and customer service operations and make significant savings in their operating costs.

02/27 09:56
BT Signs Five-Year Communications Agreement With Honeywell
By Dex McLuskey


London, Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- BT Group Plc, the U.K.'s biggest phone company, said it signed an agreement to provide communications services to Honeywell International Inc., the biggest maker of cockpit electronics, in western Europe. Terms weren't disclosed.

BT's BT Ignite unit, which supplies faster Internet services to European businesses, will provide voice, data, cellular, video and Web services to Morristown, New Jersey-based Honeywell under the five-year accord, the companies said in an e-mailed statement.

BT is seeking to boost corporate business after competition from rivals including Cable & Wireless Plc and WorldCom Inc. pushed its share of voice services to such customers down to 44 percent in the U.K. in the three months to Dec. 31. BT in November signed a 1 billion-pound ($1.58 billion) contract to manage communications for Unilever, the biggest food and soap maker.

BT's shares, which have lost 21 percent of their value in the past year, rose as much as 2.6 percent, or 4 pence, to 157.75p and were trading at 154.5p as of 9:44 a.m. in London.

Hit a new low this afternoon as market heads south in front of US open

ains



BT begins trial of extended-reach ADSL
[PC Pro] 13:17

BT is bidding to stretch its ADSL broadband service over a greater distance. The goal is to put more people within the reach of phone line-based broadband.
Currently, 5.5km is the maximum distance for receiving ADSL services from a local exchange. BT, however, is now trialling ADSL services over a distance of 6km. While its still at a very early stage, customer trials are due to begin at the end of March.

The importance of this whole issue is that the greater the distance supported, the more people can benefit from their local exchange being ADSL-enabled and more people have more choice for broadband. ADSL is the provision of broadband over PSTN (public switched telephone network), as opposed to the less-prevalent cable or satellite-based services.

The challenge facing BT - involving the basic laws of physics - is to preserve effective bandwidth over greater distances. 'We have to make sure the impact on quality is not so great that the product wouldn't be commercially viable,' said a BT spokesperson.

ADVERTISEMENT

They emphasised that no firm timetable yet existed for the possible implementation of the service

Issues to be met include the guaranteeing of contention ratios. For longer distances, the same bandwidth may be available to fewer customers, potentially increasing the service costs per user for ISPs.

Originally, a 3km limit existed for the provision of broadband from ADSL-enabled exchanges.

BT Wholesale has just brought its ADSL-based business services in line with existing domestic offerings. It has extended the reach of its 500Kbits/sec 'BT DataStream Office' service to 5.5km from a local exchange.


Alun Williams

ADSL base growing reports Oftel
[PC Pro] 13:11

According to Oftel's latest report, 66 per cent of UK households are now covered by an ADSL-enabled exchange. The UK telecoms regulator says that 1,144 BT exchanges are able to deliver ADSL.
However, given the distance constraints on running an ADSL service not all households are close enough within an area. Oftel concedes that this reduces the real ADSL coverage to 63 per cent. The total take-up of ADSL now stands at 640,000.

All these figures are valid as of 31 January 2003.

Oftel also reports on enhancement to the 'BT DataStream Office 500kbit/sec End User Access' product. BT Wholesale has extended the reach of its 500kbit/sec service to 5.5km from the local exchange. This applies to new orders.

Oftel has re-jigged its online DSL information resources. Its Local Loop Unbundling Fact Sheet has been merged with its ADSL Brief to form the DSL Fact Sheet. The first edition of the new document - with its broadband-related facts and figures - has just been made available. You can find it at www.oftel.gov.uk, along with the old fact sheets.

Alun Williams

MPs' broadband revolt gathers pace
27/02/2003
Editor: David Minto

Its not only the probable war in Iraq that British MPs are revolting on

ZDNet has reported that over 100 MPs have now signed a motion put forward by the MP Jim Knight to compel the government to do more in prompting BT to roll out broadband to rural areas. 115MPs have declared their support since December 2002, and the list is still attracting names.

As well as urging BT to disclose more specific information about its plans for broadband roll out, the motion also calls for greater cross-departmental cooperation in the governments approach to the project.

The MPs supporting the motion are concerned that, though BT claims that four-fifths of the UKs homes will be able to access its ADSL network by 2005, its plans are insufficiently detailed and the geographical lines of the digital divide have not been made clear. There is also concern about projects which do not offer higher bandwidth than ADSL.

BT, however, has said that the distribution of ADSL roll out will depend on consumer demand. Broadband operators Telewest and NTL are not currently thought to be in a financial position to expand their networks in the significant way still required.

AINS

u still holding the BT u bought mid 1.70s ?

151 now..breaking support.looks like u will need to buy more to keep averaging down.its only money !

They are just about on support now - charts do not look promising and over the last few weeks they have underperformed both the sector and the market but that's only part of the story and still happy to hold. The pension thingy has proved to be more of a negative than I had anticipated.


ains

with the most bearish brokers thinking BT is worth around 1.50..any further drops I think will be a good op to go long,really oversold now. still watching.

Talking to someone over dinner about the Indian Call Centres - They have just come back from Bombay where they have been training the new call centre staff. They get about 2K a year and tend to be well educated and because of local conditions will stay with the job. This not only makes it cheaper to route the calls there but should be more efficient (The English spoken may well have a London accent :-))

I can see myself adding a few more in the morning .....


ains

3.4GHz auction: All systems go
17:45 Thursday 27th February 2003
Graeme Wearden


Details about the new wireless broadband auction have hit the Web ahead of a government announcement on Friday. All the auction needs now is some bidders
The forthcoming 3.4GHz wireless broadband auction has been given a provisional starting date of 26 May.

The government is expected to announce full details on Friday, but the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) published the information memorandum on its Web site on Thursday. A deadline to register interest for the 3.4GHz auction has been set at 14 April -- although this could change. The early date for this deadline is designed to help the government weed out unsuitable candidates.

The RA has revealed that the auction will run for two weeks, and that any licences that are left over after 6 June will still be available for at least another year.

Fifteen 3.4GHz licences are on offer -- seven covering metropolitan areas, seven covering rural areas, and one for Northern Ireland. This distribution has caused some controversy, especially in Wales where politicians and industry figures fought in vain for two Wales-only licences.

The government hopes that companies will use 3.4GHz to offer wireless broadband services in rural areas. However, there are concerns that the auction may flounder because large telcos decline to take part in it. BT, NTL and Telewest are all expected not to take part.

This has left the government hoping that smaller players will take part, and the DTI explained on Thursday that this could include Regional Development Agencies. "A Regional Development Agency would be able to take part in the auction, as long as they did so in partnership with a company," a DTI spokesman told ZDNet, explaining that a public-private partnership between an RDA and a commercial operator would be acceptable.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BT demonstrates web-based ID checker
by Gillian Law
All your details in one handy place
Friday, 28 February 2003




BT yesterday demonstrated concept web services, including an identity checking product that it predicts will be the "ubiquitous verification service for business and government".
The service, called Uru, was jointly developed by BT and software company BG Group. It takes the identification details provided by an individual and compares them to a range of databases, including UK registers of names and addresses, death registers, the national telephone directory services database and the Meter Point Asset Number database maintained by the UK electricity companies.

Uru is currently CD-based but an online version is set for launch too.

The Uru service works by asking customers to provide several forms of identification that, used alone, could easily be forged. Armed with more indepth information it can quickly check whether an individual is who he or she says they are and whether they really live where they claim.

"Existing systems used in the UK are based on credit worthiness, not on identity. All they're interested in is whether you're good for the money. So if a fraudster manages to take or copy your ID, it's like an open cheque book," said BG group chief executive Richard Law.

Uru does not disclose personal information. Instead, it checks that the information provided is correct.

There are over two billion authentication transactions taking place every year in the UK, most of them in the financial, retail and government sectors, according to Law.

The databases currently available to Uru won't solve all identity issues indeed, they only confirm identity in about 50 percent of cases at the moment, Law said. But they are an important first step and BG Group is currently speaking to the UK Passport Office about putting its information in the public domain as well as to the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) and Inland Revenue.

"I predict that in 10 years time, 90 percent of identity checks will be done this way," said Law.

The UK government has over 100,000 databases, in a very fragmented system, and is looking to make the information more useful, Law said. If, for example, digital certification is to work, identity checking will be essential, he said. While BG Group has "no formal backing from the government," Law is aware of no other company able to provide the information needed.

"So we believe we're poised to grab that market," he added.

upgraded by Williams DeBroe and CFSB today. could be that BT has hit a floor for a while.

in top ten risers ..... bit of a game really - brokers notes



ains :-))

LONDON (Reuters) - These are the key upgrades and downgrades for UK stocks on Friday.
CSFB UPS BT ON DIVIDEND HOPES

Investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston has raised its rating on BT Group BT.L to "neutral" from "underperform" based on hopes for higher dividend payouts.

BT has indicated a payout ratio of 50 percent in the medium term but CSFB saw a ratio of 80 percent for financial year 2005 if the company's finances continued to improve.

"As BT nears financial rehabilitation, investors face the possibility of increased distribution," CSFB said in a note.

The investment bank said BT shares were now approaching fair value levels, based on financial year 2004 forecasts for a dividend yield of 4.7 percent.

It gave a price target of 160 pence.

volumes and price picking up as we head for the close - wonder what the shorters are doing


ains

bloomberg

BT Group Plc (BT/A LN) rose 7p, or 4.6 percent, to 159.5. Morten Singleton, an analyst at Williams de Broe, raised his recommendation on the former phone monopoly to ``buy'' from ``hold.''

``BT's share price has come under considerable pressure over the last few weeks, and is now trading at unfairly low levels both on an absolute basis and relative to its European incumbent peer group,'' Singleton said in a note to investors.

nice one ...... great finish @ plus 7.21% - 4th in the ftse100 top risers and way out-performing sector and market with over 48 million traded currently.

Ny tactics paid off and back in profit :-))


ains

Same old story talked them down then talk then up again i bought a few thou @151 so lets hope we see 197 they are talking about that will be a nice turn around but will sell at first sign of weakness as will most others i think

Durlatcher has them as a trading buy this morning after the bounce off the low/support on Friday



ains

BT aims to stretch ADSL reach
By Dinah Greek [03-03-2003]
Telco hopes to push ADSL beyond current boundaries to broadband-enable more homes
BT Wholesale is hoping to stretch the reach of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) to homes currently situated too far from local exchanges to receive broadband.
The telco claimed that it will be possible to provide a viable 512Kbps service without having to upgrade exchanges or copper phone lines.

This tackles head on a problem that affects around six per cent of households in the UK.

Although they are situated near upgraded local exchanges, they are unable to get broadband services because the reach of ADSL has been limited to a maximum level of 'noise' on the line of 55dB. This equates to around 5.5km in distance.

Beyond this the technical limitations of ADSL mean that the service quality has been too poor to offer to customers.

But BT has been examining the standards governing ADSL reach and now believes that noise levels can be pushed to 60dB without too much degradation of the service.

If it is able to increase the distance and establish a viable service, BT estimates that the number of people able to access broadband will rise from 93 to 97 per cent.

Limited trials have already begun using around a dozen households.

According to a BT spokesman, the company plans to start more widespread trials by the end of March and hopes at the same time to interest a range of internet service providers.

"We are looking at the possibility of extending the existing reach but, as it is early days, the numbers on the current trial are very small," he said.

"We are not upgrading these unbundled exchanges as all we are doing is pushing out the standard ADSL acceptable noise levels from 55dB to 60dB.

"It is difficult to say in distance how much further this will extend the reach from certain exchanges as it can vary.

"It will depend on local circumstances and the length of the copper wire involved rather than distance.

"The current trials will be looking at potential service problems caused by more noise on the line, such as if customers keep getting chucked off [the service].

"It is no use trying to offer a service if it is always getting cut off."

These trials should not be confused with those of lower bandwidth broadband of 128Kbps that BT is looking at testing in late March or April.

Trials of this midband range, as BT calls it, will provide a lower bandwidth using different technologies to ADSL.

Meanwhile, as part of BT's ongoing scheme to convert local exchanges, another 20 around the country will be converted during May.

These include Tavistock in Devon, Newton in Mid Glamorgan, Irvine Old Town in Strathclyde and Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

Ains: re Andy's message (No. 100 above). If you attempt to use one of those frightful machines to send me a 30-second video of yourself, you will find that future mail will be automatically deleted from the server.

As it happens I tend to be camera shy although a keen photographer .....

Shares seem to be drifting a little with the market although volumes are very modest - US futures up a little


ains

Frost warms to BT and Lloyds TSB
Published: 07:24 Mon 3 March 2003
By Laurence Fletcher, Funds Correspondent
Email to a friend | Printable Version


Respected Artemis income fund manager Adrian Frost has sold out of stocks such as BAE Systems and Britannic in favour of BT and Lloyds TSB.


Frost, manager of the 125 million Artemis Income, says he currently sees best value among stocks outside the FTSE 100 index and has therefore weighted his portfolio away from large caps.

However, he has spotted value in a select number of large caps and has added to holdings in pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), telecoms group BT (BT.A), oil majors Shell (SHEL) and BP (BP.) and banking group Lloyds TSB (LLOY).

Lloyds has recently received support from star Jupiter manager Philip Gibbs on valuations grounds, while highly-regarded Invesco Perpetual manager Neil Woodford and Axa manager Stuart Fowler have steered clear of the bank.

Elsewhere, Frost has sold out of troubled defence group BAE Systems (BA.), jewellery retailer Signet (SIG) and fallen life assurance group Britannic (BRT).

He has also taken profits in mid-cap stocks such as chilled convenience food maker Uniq, port services and property group Forth Ports and gaming and property group Wembley.

But he added: 'We continue to believe stocks outside the FTSE 100 offer the best value and the portfolio is weighted towards this area.'

Since Frost took charge of the Artemis Income fund around a year ago, it has fallen 26.3%, beating an average 28.9% drop among funds in the UK Equity Income sector and a 29.6% decline in the FTSE All Share index.

Over three years Frost ranks 18th out of 38 managers in the UK Equity Income sector of Citywire Funds Insider, a fund manager ranking system developed by Citywire.

2003 Citywire

durlatcher still has them as a trading buy/hold despite yesterdays standstill .... I added a few more to round off my holding - 2nd biggest holding at this time



ains

business weekly

Competition from cable and other broadband enabling technologies has triggered BT plans to speed up its broadband roll-out across the East of England.

It is lowering the threshold levels of customer interest required before an exchange is upgraded for the ultra-fast internet connection. Since July, people in areas where ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) broadband is not available have been able to log their interest through BT Wholesales demand registration scheme.

When the level of interest hits a threshold linked to the cost of providing ADSL at an individual exchange, BT will upgrade the exchange.

Other broadband players are cleaning up in BTs broadband blackspots but BT insists the policy change is simply down to experience.

It says: We now have more experience in the actual costs involved in enabling a broadband exchange, following the first batch of upgrades. Although the cost of an upgrade will depend from exchange to exchange, depending on the fabric of the building and its location, the cost has been much lower than we previously expected.

Demand trigger levels have been reduced at 43 East of England exchanges and set for the first time at a further nine local exchanges. The lowered trigger levels have resulted in 22 exchanges being upgraded nationally, but only two of these are in the East of England Chorleywood in Hertfordshire and Thorpe Bay in Essex. BT maintains there is still simply not enough demand in certain parts of the country principally rural areas for blanket roll-out of broadband.

High profile awareness raising campaigns, such as the East of England Development Agencys Demand Broadband initiative, are beginning to penetrate more remote parts of the region. The maximum trigger level is now 550 registrations and BT said that had been lowered by as much as 450.

One of the UKs flagship trigger scheme broadband communities is now live. BT has enabled the Wymondham exchange for ADSL meaning residents will be able to sign up for broadband and connect to the internet up to 10 times faster than currently possible with a standard 56k connection.

Broadband access will enable Wymondham residents to use the internet to shop and bank online faster and more efficiently. They can also look forward to using ADSL to listen to music and stream videos over the web.

www.bt.com/broadband contains information about the exact trigger levels for every exchange in the region, plus demand to date.



New trigger levels:

Beds: Ampthill 300; Biggleswade 350; Hockliffe 300; Houghton Regis 350; Kempston 300; Toddington 300. Cambs: Buckden 300; Chatteris 300; Ely 300; March 350; Ramsey 200; Sawston 350; Trumpington 300; Wansford 350; Waterbeach 300. ESSEX: Broomfield 250; Downhall Eadow 450; Epping 300; Frinton On Sea 350; Great Dunmow 350; Great Wakering 300; Harwich 350; Ingatestone 300; Marks Tey 250; Saffron Walden 300; Stansted, Essex 300. HERTS: Baldock 350; Sawbridgeworth 300. SUFFOLK: Belstead 350; Newmarket, 350; Hadleigh 250; Woodbridge 300. NORFOLK: Attleborough 350; Costessey 350; Dereham 350; Diss 350; Downham Market 350; Fakenham 350; Narborough 300; North Walsham 350; Norwich Thorpe 350; South Wootton 550; Swaffham 300.



The nine exchanges for which trigger levels have been set for the first time are: Brandon, Suffolk 350; Brundall, Norfolk 400; Halstead, Essex 350; Kelvedon, Essex 250; Linton, Cambs 350; Lower Shelton, Beds 350; Ormesby, Norfolk 300; Sawtry, Cambs 300; Soham, Cambs 350.

well sold them @160 140s here we come again next order in mid 140s

This is why i think bt will be down again these thoughts below reflect the dire straights some companys are in and will not be ignored by the investors look at rolls made 200 mil assets 1.3 bill debt pension 1 bil does that sound a good investment i dont think so with markets likley to fall further sounds negative but realistic i think

Estimates from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein suggest the aggregate pension deficit within the FTSE 100 is 100b, with BT Group (LSE: BT.A)(NYSE: BTY) and Royal & SunAlliance (LSE: RSA)(NYSE: RSA) among the guilty parties.


So what should investors do with firms whose profits are dwarfed by a pension deficit? Simply avoid them. You see, successful investment is all about minimising the unknown and the unpredictable. And as any Equitable Life customer knows, making substantial long-term financial promises can -- at some point down the road -- throw up all sorts of unforeseen issues.


Indeed, pension fund calculations themselves are anything but straightforward. Numerous assumptions must be made about salary inflation, stock market growth and so on, leaving boardrooms (and their actuaries) with plenty of scope for unrealistic optimism. Remember: rosy forecasts caused many large companies to mistakenly take pension holidays during the 1990s.

Sounds good to me


BT cuts IT contractor rates. Again
By John Leyden - Register


BT is to impose a 12.5 per cent pay cut on contractors employed by its BT Computing Partners division from the start of April.

The pay cut, which is non-negotiable, is the latest in a series of pay cuts to fall on contractors since October 2001, that have left workers with a third less take home pay.

The latest cuts follow the upcoming merger of BT Exact, its development arm, with BT Computing Partners, which carries out mainframe and midrange support for various BT businesses. The contractors' account at BT Computing Partners was recently pared from three agencies to one, Hays IT.

Contractors were told earlier this week they were to be offered new contracts - but at 12.5 per cent lower rates of pay. He estimates the cuts will hit around 85 IT contractors in BT Computing Partners.

"We get told we're doing a great job, then we get kicked in teeth," a source said. "There was no room for negotiation - it was a case of like it or lump it."

Our man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that contractors will have little choice but to accept the cuts, because of the continued depressed state of the IT jobs market. If they leave, BT is likely to be able to easily find replacements.

The cuts leave senior programmers earning around 28 per hour and more junior staff less than 20 per hour.

It's unclear if similar pay cuts will be applied to contractors throughout the rest of the BT Group.

Although only a small number of people are affected by the cuts they are nonetheless noteworthy because BT often leads the trend in what contractors can expect to be paid by major IT employers in the UK.

A BT spokesman confirmed that a contractor pay cuts 12.5 per cent is due to be applied this April as part of a new contract between BT Computing Partners and Hays IT.

The deal is part of a managed services contract recently awarded to Hays IT as part of BT's drive to "improve the commercial terms" by which contractors are employed.

"BT has to remain competitive and can't afford to pay contractors at rates that don't reflect market conditions," he told us.

"BT tracked the upward trends in contractors pay in the 1990s, so its only natural we're tracking the downward trend now," he added.

Freeserve mulls dial-up usage limit
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 04/03/2003

Freeserve is mulling over following BT Openworld's lead and introduce usage caps for its flat-rate unmetered AnyTime service.

Currently, Freeserve has no monthly limit for its all-you-can-eat unmetered service. But according to sources, all that could change with execs considering whether to introduce a cap similar to BT Openworld's 150 hour a month limit for its unmetered dial-up product.

A spokeswoman for Freeserve said she was unaware of any such moves to impose a cap on its unmetered service.

However, increased losses at the UK arm of French ISP, Wanadoo, means that Freeserve is being forced to look at cutting costs.

In a statement yesterday Wanadoo said that it had "initiated a programme aimed at enhancing income performance to cut its losses".

Part of that comes from news Freeserve sneaked out late last week adding 1 a month to its AnyTime service. The price rise - bringing the cost of AnyTime to 14.99 a month - comes into force from March 25.

As well as trying to increase revenue, it's also trying to cut costs. Recently, it renegotiated key contracts with its network supplier, Energis, and customer service operators both of which Freeserve claims should help reduce costs.

Said Freeserve in a statement: "We greatly reduced network costs by renegotiating our contract with Energis; the benefits of which will be seen in 2003.

"We are also negotiating more efficient customer service contracts where we are paying less but offering a superior service."

out-performed the sector and market marginally but still down a tad

ains


LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC said it had signed a joint venture with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council worth 150 mln stg in turnover over 12 years.
The joint venture will take on the delivery of a number of the council's key administration services. BT will invest 30 mln stg in technology over 12 years to improve delivery of these services.

The council will benefit from 50 mln stg of efficiency savings, said BT.

All helps I guess


DINGWALL is well on the way to joining the world of Broadband, as Broadband4Dingwall is proud to announce it has passed the halfway barrier on the BT Registration scheme as of the start of March, 186 people have registered for the service.
We only need another 164 individuals or businesses in Dingwall and surrounding area to register to get the Dingwall exchange converted to provide fast internet access for the town, said Graeme Mackay, the man behind the Broadband4Dingwall initiative.
Graeme said, BT has set a trigger level for conversion of the Dingwall exchange at 350 were not that far away in meeting that target so come on Dingwall, register your interest now at www.broadband4dingwall.co.uk
Currently, people and businesses situated in and around Dingwall have to make do with accessing the Internet via a normal telephone connection.
Access is very slow and means that companies in particular are paying large sums of money to obtain an extremely poor Internet connection. The goal of the campaign is to provide the people and businesses of Dingwall with the same facilities and opportunities as in places like Central Belt Scotland and London.
This is a great opportunity for local people to put Dingwall on the Broadband map, says Graeme. They have the power to secure for the local area one of the 21st centurys most important building blocks for economic and social progress.
For further information contact: Graeme Mackay at
info@broadband4dingwall.co.uk


editor@rsjournal.co.uk

BT launches dotmusic service

London, March 6 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

BT has today launched 'dotmusic on demand', a legal music service that provides subscribers with access to more than 150,000 tracks but stops short of allowing them to burn songs onto CDs.


For 9.99 per month, users are granted unlimited access to the service, which collates recordings from major record labels including BMG, Universal, EMI and Warner, as well as hundreds of smaller independents, to provide a broad range of content. BT claims it is the first legal music service of its kind in Europe.

Subscribers can either stream tracks or download them, but aside from a promotional offer in place until the end of April, users cannot burn tracks onto a CD. BT was not immediately available to comment as to whether it will extend the service to a monthly quota of 'burns'.

The launch offer provides music fans that sign up before 30 April with 10 free permanent tracks, which can be burned, but thereafter the dotmusic on demand reverts to a download-only service.

Nevertheless, the move has given the music industry "a new cause for optimism", according to BPI executive chairman Peter Jamieson, who said: "Providing legitimate services to enable consumers to download their favourite music is pivotal to the future strategies of music companies."

The service, powered by Peter Gabriel's OD2 digital music distribution company, is also available for 4.99 per month for users that want to access up to 50 downloads and 500 streams. Additionally, there is a three-day free trial to enable people to check out dotmusic on demand at no cost.

BT head of music Ben Drury said: "Over the last two years since we first started looking at a mass market online music service, things have come a long way but an unlimited package has always been the holy grail.

"We've worked very hard to get to this point where we can offer a truly compelling legal service and are very proud to be the first to do so."

New research released yesterday by Jupiter discovered that 37% of European digital music users are prepared to pay for online music services.

Outperforming sector and market as we head for close

BT 'not responsible' for suspended FreeDial service
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 06/03/2003 at 15:17 GMT


BT has said it will "vigorously" defend any legal action brought against it by ISP FreeDial.biz.

The telco's resolute stand follows reports that FreeDial has been "forced to suspend" all of its broadband operations following an alleged dispute with BT Wholesale.

In an email to customers published on ADSLGuide FreeDial reports that it suspended the service "due to BT reneging on our agreement".

The ISP said that the current situation has arisen "through absolutely no fault of FreeDial" and claims to be preparing a dossier on the matter "pending legal action".

But BT has denied that it is responsible for the problems experienced by Fredial customers.

A spokesman for the telco told The Register: "BT has no involvement in any cancellation arrangements between FreeDial.biz and its customers.

"In view of FreeDial.biz's indication that it intends legal action we cannot comment further. Any legal action will be vigorously defended by BT," he said.

FreeDial caused a flurry of attention last September when it announced that it was offering a 512k ADSL service from just 12.99 a month.

At the time the ISP said it could offer the service at well below cost because its strings-attached "budget" service would be subsidised by its "premium" services.

In a statement on its site it denied that it was a "fly-by-night" operation insisting that it was in it for "for the long haul" with the "finances, resources and background to be able to carry out our commitments to the full".

BT opens Indian call centres BBC NEWS


Call centre work can easily be done from remote locations
Telecoms giant BT has confirmed it is to join the growing band of UK firms transferring call centre operations to India.
The firm has said it is to open two Indian call centres - in Bangalore and New Delhi - employing 2,200 people by 2004.

The move risks angers UK unions, who have threatened strike action to defend UK jobs.

BT said no permanent UK employees would be made redundant as a result of the move, with every effort made to ensure reducations in agency posts were met through natural wastage.

03/07 09:10
BT Will Open Two Customer Contact Centers in India (Update1)
By Dex McLuskey


London, March 7 (Bloomberg) -- BT Group Plc, the U.K.'s biggest phone company, will open two directory assistance centers in India, where costs are about 30 percent lower than in its home market, to boost its competitiveness, an executive said.

The sites, in Bangalore and New Delhi, will employ 500 by the end of March, Pierre Danon, head of BT's BT Retail unit, said on a conference call. The number of workers will rise to about 2,200 by March next year and the centers will be managed by BT workers.

``I'm not cutting jobs'' in the U.K., Danon said. ``My commitment of maintaining jobs in the U.K. remains absolutely unchanged.'' Nor will any temporary workers' contracts be canceled, he said.

BT is battling to retain market share in the U.K., where it lost a monopoly to provide directory inquiry services in December. Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest phone company, lost 40 percent of its directory assistance business in the first six months after Germany opened up for competition, Danon said.

The BT Directories unit's U.K. workforce will shrink to 14,000 people by next March from 16,000 a year ago, Danon said. About 1,000 of the U.K.'s 6,000 temporary jobs will eventually be transferred to India, he said. BT, which has 31 U.K. centers, has no plans to open more call centers in the Asian country, he added.

The company will invest a further 8 million pounds ($12.8 million) in software to handle directory inquiries, bringing the total to 108 million pounds. It has reached its target of saving 86 million pounds a year after beginning to reorganize the unit. BT plans to save 150 million pounds over two years, Danon said.

Shares of BT, which have lost 21 percent of their value this year, fell as much as 1.8 percent, or 2.75 pence, to 154p and were trading at 154.25p as of 9:06 a.m. in London.

I see this as good news in the longer term - the peeps who set it up say the Indians are all well educated - very enthused - want long term jobs and earn around 2K .....


ains


LONDON (AFX) - BT Retail said it would open two new call centres in Bangalore and New Delhi in India, but reassured its UK staff this would not mean any compulsory job losses.
The two centres in India will initially handle parts of BT's directories and conferencing work.

The company said it expects the 2 sites will employ 500 people by the end of the month, rising to about 2,200 by March 2004.

"I have also said that we do not aim to cut jobs in the UK only to recreate them in India," said Pierre Danon, head of BT Retail.

"This is demonstrated by our commitment that no single permanent BT job will be cut as a result of setting up centres in India. For the agency people working on directory enquiries, we have also pledged that none of their contracts will be terminated.

"And, for any future work moved to India, we will make every effort to meet any necessary reductions in agency posts through natural wastage," he added.
Of the 2,200 total, there will be 700 Directories posts in India, which will be achieved through natural wastage among agency workers in the UK.
BT said it was moving work to India following a decision by the UK authorities last year to allow new entrants to provide directory inquiries.


tf/rn

ceo on working lunch talking call centres

Its a real pity that this site with its impressive graphics and layout is not more widely used.

It is clear that a number of potential users are deterred by Ainsoph using it as his personal fifedom to ramp his dog portfolio

About time he was banned from here as well to make his hat-trick of bans and he could keep the virtual web-ball and play with himself.

09 Mar 2003 08:26

BT to cut costs with Delhi, Bangalore call centres
By Santosh Menon

LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group Plc, Britain's largest fixed-line telecoms provider, said on Friday its BT retail unit would set up two call centres in India, joining a long list of firms moving there to cut costs.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, told reporters the two Indian call centres would not cost UK jobs, and said BT would still spend over 97 percent of its planned 108 million pound ($173 million) investment in call centres in Britain.

"None of BT's permanent employees in the UK will be made redundant as a result of the new centres opening. BT has also made the commitment that no agency people who work for BT Directories in the UK will have their contracts terminated," a BT statement said.

The opening of the Indian centres -- where salary costs of around 1.25 pounds an hour compare with 5-10 pounds in the UK -- is part of BT Retail's strategy to consolidate its 104 UK locations into 33 centres in a bid to achieve annual cost savings of 150 million pounds.

The two Indian centres, one in New Delhi and the second in the country's technology capital Bangalore, will initially handle parts of BT's directories and phone conferencing work.

The centres, which will start with 500 employees by the end of March, rising to around 2,200 by March 2004, will have BT's systems and will be managed by its staff, but will be owned by units of Indian firms HCL Technologies and Infosys Technologies.

BT plans to invest three million pounds in the three centres and have three of its employees initially manage them.


SORE POINT

Moving jobs to countries like India, where salaries are far lower, is a sore point with trade unions in Britain. However, Danon defended the move, saying BT owed it to its shareholders to explore cost-effective options and said the company had not resorted to compulsory redundancies.

He said BT was redeploying and retraining employees to do new jobs and said BT had no plans to further increase the number of centres in India.

Transferring work to India is part of BT's plan to retain market share in UK directory inquiry services, a 700 million calls a year business where it lost a monopoly last December.

Danon said established providers had lost up to 40 percent market share in Ireland and Germany after deregulation.

"We will not allow that to happen to us," Danon said.

Many overseas companies have outsourced back-office functions to Indian firms, or set up their own units to service global clients from India which is a cheaper location with large technically skilled workforce.

Britain's largest insurance group Aviva Plc said last month it plans to set up a call and claims processing centre in India, employing about 1,000 by the end of 2003.

Other firms which have shifted their back-office and call centre functions to India include General Electric, HSBC and Citigroup.

BT floats airship idea to help Scottish broadband access

DOUGLAS FRIEDLI


AIRSHIPS could be deployed above Scottish cities in the next 10 years to answer the nations broadband access problems, according to BTs satellite guru.

The phone group is monitoring advances in technology which could see blimps replace or supplement communications satellites by 2013.

The cigar-shaped balloons are more readily associated with the war years, when the US navy used them as cheap radar platforms.

Ian Rose, head of BTs satellite systems team, said so-called high altitude platforms (HAPs) had a number of advantages over satellites in space.

He said: "One of the advantages is that you could lay down fairly high-capacity networks fairly quickly. And because they can be brought back down easily, you can alter the payload to deal with new technology."

Satellites tend to stay up for 10 to 15 years, by which time their equipment may be out of date. But blimps could be altered to handle advances such as fourth generation phone networks.

Rose said: "Because satellites give broad area coverage, they are likely to continue being used for continents. But HAPs could be used at a regional level. Its a trade-off between the two different technologies."

The cost of launching an airship could be a fraction of that of launching a satellite system into space, communications experts believe.

BT already uses satellites to provide broadband phone services to thinly populated areas of the UK such as the Highlands and Islands.

A number of companies are working on telecommunications balloons, including Sky Station International, which is backed by General Alexander Haig, the former US secretary of state.

SSI hopes to set up 250 balloons at an altitude of 13 miles above the worlds largest metropolitan areas.

The Washington DC-based company is expected to announce a launch site for a test flight of its balloon system later this month. Possible locations include Australia, Ghana, Panama, South Korea, Turkey and the south-western US.

Another US company, Angel Technologies, plans to use high altitude, long operation (HALO) aircraft to provide communication links.

But airship technology is relatively untried, which could make it difficult to sell to phone companies which have already invested huge amounts in mobile phone networks.

Rose said: "My feeling is that these airship platforms are going to have to prove themselves to telecoms providers."

Another potential problem is that airships could be more vulnerable to attack or accidental damage than space satellites. Routine maintenance could also be much higher.

VNUNET


Council opts for BT joint venture
By Karl Flinders [07-03-2003]
Rotherham improves service to citizens while avoiding the 'hassle of outsourcing'
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has opted for a joint venture with BT to avoid the upheaval of outsourcing.
The local authority needs to bring its back-end administration and management, as well as its front end services, up to date.

Rotherham said that its decision to set up a limited company, Rotherham Brought Together Connect, with BT will see 150m spent on ICT products and services over the next 12 years.

BT will contribute 30m towards technology and training, with the council predicting 50m in savings over the period.

The partnership was preferred to outsourcing because council staff will remain in place and can use their experience in providing services.

This will maintain the standard of service the council offers to its citizens, while improving efficiency through the use of technology, according to Jonathan Prew, strategic services director at the council.

As well as reducing costs, the new company will become a profit centre in the future by offering its services to others.

Prew explained that the resources acquired through the partnership are essential in helping the council to improve efficiency and services.

"We knew where we wanted to get to and that needed extra investment, skills and expertise," he said. "We did not have all three so the BT partnership brought the IT equipment and training."

Meeting Tony Blair's 2005 online services target will also be more achievable, according to Prew.

Front line services to citizens will be improved through Siebel's E-City CRM system designed for local government use, while BT will re-engineer the front- and back-office systems.

Liverpool City Council has a similar partnership with BT in Liverpool Direct, a joint venture in which the council has a 20 per cent stake.

Rob McVicker, commercial director at the company, said that the system was preferred to outsourcing "because the city council wanted to be part of the solution".

He cited the advantages as local authority influence on policy, worker terms and conditions remaining unchanged, and council staff knowledge and skills ensuring best practice for services.

Some mixed comments on CNBC this morning - best in sector but sector not well perceived at this time .... I think we are around the low

ains



10/03/2003 - 11:06:37 am

Esat BT has launched a new service-driven business model, designed to facilitate a simpler approach to delivering network connectivity solutions to its customers.

The new Connectivity Solutions Matrix business service model is based on five service propositions covering five core offerings related to network connectivity.

The WAN Matrix is the first to be launched into the Irish market and this will be followed in due course by similar propositions related to users of LAN technology, Secure Internet Services, Remote Access Services and IP Telephony.

The WAN Matrix proposition offers a menu of managed services in pre-defined packages or on a 'pick and mix' basis.

For example, customers can select from a set of service options as part of its overall WAN solution.

The elements chosen from Esat BTs service offering can therefore be customised to complement the buyers in-house skills.

The service matrix will be deployed to map a customers site interconnectivity and application needs through a combination of proactively managed network services and routing equipment.

Yes we are not far from 50p at the present rate of decline

this one has been stuck in a downtrend from 15 goodfella, wanna call a bottom for it? Doyou really think it'll stop falling at 50p?

jesus wepped

more like Ainsoph wepped as he keeps losing money on this stock

Not sure there is much to be gained by crowing - anyone can come on and say a share has fallen - after the event ..... so what ..... hardly makes you into a legend


ains

who is claiming to be a legend?

your sincerely

arthur (of camelot)

jesus wepped ......

Markets and the sector are both down lots - its seems probable that BT will follow the trend - no magick or casting of the runes are needed



10 Mar 2003 17:32 GMT



Markets round-up: FTSE 100 slumps to 7-1/2 year low

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 has ended lower for a fifth straight session, taking the market to a 7-1/2 year closing low as banks slumped and concern grew that a war with Iraq might be days away.
Britain and the United States have said Iraq must disarm by March 17 or face war.

The FTSE 100 .FTSE index ended down 55.6 points, or 1.6 percent, at 3,436.0 points, its lowest level since July 1995. The move also takes the market to less than half of its all-time high of 6,950.6 in December 1999.

"We're so close now to whatever is going to happen with Iraq that the markets are moribund. The high oil price is squeezing economic growth and we're getting poor numbers out of the UK, U.S. and Europe," said Stuart Fraser of fund managers Brewin Dolphin.

However, Fraser said he did not expect the market to fall significantly further, a sentiment echoed by David Franklin, director and fund manager at Christows Stockbrokers.

"I actually find it encouraging in a contrarian way that everyone is bearish at the moment. It means everyone is out of the market. Anyone who is going to sell has gotten out already."

Is heading for 130p and could be a good time to get in at this level although of course we could go lower perhaps as low as 100p but I cannot see that happening for a while yet..

Trader ainsey,

your track record is wonderful - have you been topping up since 240p? Adding to your core holdings? Do you know what a stop loss is??? LOL!

F

Fugitive/dreamer do you really lead such a sad life that you have to spend it spamming all my threads .... try enic and THT or FDBK ..... duh

I have never 'topped up' in my life and have never used such a phrase or trading strategy ...... sounds just like the words you use on advfn .... any chance you wil return there ..... please

LOL! sorry ainsey, can't help it - you have often used the word "adding" to your "long term holdings". Sorry, you are just a joke. Your track record is an absolute disaster. Do you know what a stop loss is??? You were buying at 155 or was it 160, no wait there it was 170, no I am mistaken, it was 190 - well for the benefit of traders with no track record, perhaps you would give us guidance on where we should set a stop.

F

do stop being silly and find some thing to do with yourself .... I have to complete the ENIC acceptance forms - nice 60% gain :-))

oftel ann

By Tim Richardson
Posted: 11/03/2003 at 13:17 GMT


BT Wholesale has published the latest list of exchanges to be converted to ADSL. All should be completed during May, except Wentworth and Brimscombe, which are earmarked for June.

Antrim, Northern Ireland
Badsey, Hereford & Worcester
Devonport, Devon
Dunblane, Central Region
Kidmore End, Oxfordshire

Attleborough, Norfolk
Dronfield, Derbyshire
Highclere, Hampshire
Ingleby Barwick, Cleveland
Kingston Blount, Oxfordshire
Odiham, Hampshire
Southam, Warwickshire
Wormley, Surrey, 300

Wentworth, Surrey, 250
Brimscombe, Gloucestershire

Er, next!

LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC today launched another strand of its broadband internet offensive, designed to add 100 mln stg of revenues in the next two years.
BT's Home of Possibilities services will offer customers low cost home monitoring and break-in alerts, computer networking, music and X-Box games.

"At the heart of our vision of the Home of Possibilities is the idea that there's more to an internet connection than just access to the web," said Angus Porter, managing director of BT's consumer unit.

BT wants to grow its 'always on', broadband internet network to 5 mln customers by 2006 from an estimated 1 mln.

ainsoph

Are you bankrupt yet ?

another non- believer ains. should I splat him/

heheheheh, erk, spalat

MIDGER

I think this illustrates where the future is for BT ..... as soon as the war starts they will start bouncing ......

ains





BT offers home security for broadband users
17:34 Wednesday 12th March 2003
Reuters


BT has created new online services, including home security and education, for its broadband customers
BT has embarked on a campaign to promote new broadband services for home users.

The additional services include a house security system, networking for multiple-computer homes, a portable radio that pulls broadcasts off the Internet, the launch of Microsoft's Xbox Live games console, and online education.

These services are expected to generate 100m in extra revenue by 2005 for BT, which faces increased competition in a telephony market showing paltry growth.

BT says it is on target to hit one million broadband users by the middle of this year, but it hopes such services will help get it to a further goal of five million subscribers by 2006.

To dramatically boost the numbers in a country that once lagged on broadband among wealthier nations, BT cut wholesale prices for fast digital subscriber lines to less than 15 a month last April, bringing its retail price down to 27.

"The price of broadband is unlikely to change dramatically," Angus Porter, manager director of BT Consumer, told reporters at a news conference. "The issue is going to be whether the services that broadband can unlock justify (the price)."

Following recent moves by retailers Tesco and Carphone Warehouse into residential phone services, BT appears to be turning the tables. Starting at 28.50 a month for three years, BT said it would also sell home computer systems to time-constrained or less-technically able people, as well as installation, service and support.

The new Internet radio, due for launch in mid-2003, will sell for 160, while equipment to connect two home computers to one broadband line will cost just under 250 when launched this month.

A home monitoring system, which will allow home owners to receive text messages or have neighbours phoned when alarms go off, will sell for 300 with 12 months service from May.

Porter said such applications were already possible, but BT wanted to earn its money by making them simple to use.

Subscriptions for the BT Learning Centre cost 4 a month, and the Xbox Live console will go on sale on Friday.

BT will also be boosting its phone bill by allowing its click & buy online payments service users to put charges on their BT bill starting next month, which gets around the need to give out credit card details on the Internet.

It's now down a whole pound since you starting buying you IDIOT!!!

I`ll bounce him ainslurp,
my this is a fine bottle of White Spirit you dropped off this morning,cheers, ignore them alslop, ignore them, they are brain-dead,old camper ,

rasp, retch,giant cockroaches,eh? hello

heheheh,

MAJORBLITZED, heheh

Back to 155p and up 10.46% on the day with volumes 50% higher than average - easily outperformed sector and market. Interestingly, more volume than OOM which was up 8.9%



ains

Up again today and climbing the top ten gainers on the leader board - now 162.5p with nearly 5 million traded


ains :-))

Owen Gibson media guardian
Friday March 14, 2003

BT has unveiled a host of broadband products aimed at stimulating take up of its high speed internet service - including a portable radio that can connect
to the web.
Angus Porter, the head of BT Retail's consumer division, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the company's latest push would help them reach customers who were not yet convinced of the benefits of the new technology.

"This is about getting to 2 and 3 million customers and complements what is happening at the other end of the pipe with more content becoming available to users. We're going to have to make the point that you don't need to be a genius to do this stuff," said Mr Porter.

As well as the portable radio, which will allow broadband customers to listen to thousands of internet radio stations anywhere in their house, the new range also includes home security and surveillance products.

BT is also launching a home network system that will allow a single broadband connection to be shared by different computers and appliances without the need for wires.

The company hopes that by launching products such as the radio and promoting its tie up with Microsoft's X-Box games console it can persuade customers who are not heavy web users to invest in the technology.

The X-Box Live service, which launches today, will enable owners of the Microsoft console who have a broadband connection to compete against players across Europe and talk to one another while doing so.

The portable radio, which will retail for 159 and is likely to be bundled with broadband offers, picks up a signal from a unit attached to a PC and tunes in to the thousands of online radio stations on offer.

While BT is confident of reaching its target of 1 million broadband connections by this summer - new customers are signing up at the rate of 25,000 a week - Mr Porter accepted that progressing beyond die-hard web enthusiasts would be more difficult.

Ben Verwaayen, the BT chief executive, last year placed broadband at the centre of the group's strategy for revenue growth and promised to have 5 million connections through BT lines by 2006 in a make-or-break move.

Soon after arriving at BT last February, Mr Verwaayen kick-started the campaign by slashing 10 from the price of a broadband connection and launching a huge advertising push.

However, BT executives privately acknowledge broadband must mean more than faster games and music downloads if it is to appeal to the mass market.

Mr Porter said other products on the way that utilised the technology included security devices, baby monitors and gadgets that took advantage of the "always on" high-speed connection.

good to see BT in the 170's again :-)) ..... shorters seem to have got burned off albeit market looks a tad down on the eve of war


analysts at Investec Securities told clients that it believes BT Wholesale unit will easily meet its target of reducing costs by 200m by the end of this month.


ains

27 more exchanges pass trigger levels
Wednesday 19 March 2003, 2:35:31 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Sarah Brown


World-of-ADSL has reported details about the latest 27 exchanges to pass trigger levels and have ready for service dates set, which will be between May 28 and June 25:



BT Scotland has announced it is to virtually double the coverage of asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband in the Highlands.


In the north of Scotland ADSL broadband is currently available only to people in Inverness, Elgin and Culloden, however, support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is set to deliver broadband services to an additional five exchanges.


BT also added that it is also aiming to enable one more exchange, thus, collectively, the initiative will make the technology available to a third of businesses and households in the Highlands.

BT moving up as rumours come through that US troops are moving forward towards the border .....

Outperforning market and sector @ 175p which is a session high



ains

2002 - the first year of broadband

London, March 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Two new reports have revealed that consumer uptake of broadband exploded during 2002, paving the way for a four-fold surge in connections throughout Europe by 2006.


A report published by the Office of National Statistics discovered the number of households that connected to the high-speed internet in 2002 grew by 256%. 'Always-on' permanent connections now account for more than one in ten internet connections in the UK.

The report linked the growth to the ubiquitous marketing campaigns that have been implemented by the likes of BT in order to increase mass market awareness of the high-speed internet, as well as falling prices.

Meanwhile, the latest Datamonitor study into European broadband adoption suggests there will be a four-fold rise in connections by 2006, when 41m households across Europe will have access to the high-speed internet.

By that time, the UK is likely to have surpassed France to make it the second largest broadband-connected country after Germany.

Datamonitor believes that prices need to fall to the equivalent of $25 per month before consumers adopt the faster internet en masse.

Datamonitor said the online content market, which will be driven by broadband, will be worth about 3.4bn by late-2006, when Europeans will spend an average of $76 per year on content and services. The content market is estimated to be worth about $350m in 2003.

Deutsche Bank is removing BT Group BT.L from its UK focus list following a strong rally in the share price.

Deutsche said in a research note that it did not believe that BT's share valuation was stretched.

"Neither is it compelling given that BT is lacking a mobile component to give it any chance of achieving top line growth," said the note from Deutsche analyst Martin Mabbutt.

Deutsche rated the stock a "buy" and had a 236 pence target for the shares.

BY GARETH MACKIE BUSINESS EDITOR


TELECOMS giant BT today accused the main industry union of distorting the truth over its plans to open two call centres in India that will eventually employ 2200 people.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BTs retail arm, spoke out against the Communication Workers Union as employees prepared to stage protests today at 34 call centres around the UK, in what could be a precursor to strikes.

The union has expressed fears BT is preparing to move thousands of jobs, including 1200 in Scotland, to India. But Mr Danon said the group still intended massive investment for its UK centres: "The investment of 105 million will safeguard the jobs of 17,000 people."

He added: "While I fully respect the CWUs role in representing their members interests, some of their words are distorting the true situation and helping no one."

BT employs around 12,000 people in Scotland, three-quarters of whom are engineers, while BT Retail has 2450 people working in its call centres north of the Border.

Mr Danon said: "It is our policy to consult closely with the unions on any initiatives that affect our people and the India issue was no exception. We have been engaging with them for several months, but it was the union that walked away from the negotiating table."

The union insisted that, while it held talks with BT on the India plan in January, the two sides simply agreed to disagree.

A CWU spokesman rejected Mr Danons claim of distortion and accused BT of "spin", adding: "To say we walked away is very provocative and simply not true."

Many companies outsource back-office functions to Indian firms, or set up their own units to service global clients from a country with a skilled but relatively low-cost workforce.

The opening of the BT centres in India - where salaries are around 1.25 an hour compared with 5 to 10 in Britain - is part of BTs strategy to consolidate 104 UK locations into 33 centres and save 150m a year.

Mr Danon said: "It is in the best all-round interests of our shareholders, our customers and our people."

But the CWU pointed out that BT Retail earns almost all its revenue through British employees, and the Indian move amounts to taking 2200 jobs out of its home economy.

The two centres in New Delhi and Bangalore will handle directories and phone conferencing. They will be owned by Indian firms HCL Technologies and Infosys Technologies. Moving work to India is part of BTs plan to retain market share in directory inquiry services after losing its monopoly four months ago. One firm entered the market this week offering directory calls for half the price of BT.

Mr Danon repeated his promise that no permanent BT staff would lose their jobs as a result of the move to India.

However, the issue for CWUs deputy general secretary, Jeannie Drake, is that call centre job losses would have a huge impact on some of the poorest parts of the UK.

"If BT gets away with this, the effects on local economies could be disastrous," Ms Drake said ahead of todays protests, expected to take place at call centres across Scotland, Wales and England.

She added: " If BT does not take a more reasoned stance we will not hesitate to sanction industrial action."

20 Mar 2003 18:55 GMT

BT outlines aggressive corporate outsourcing plans

LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group, already Britain's dominant residential phone company, has described plans for earning hundreds of millions more in revenue by selling outsourced communications services to big companies.
BT's BT.L order book for the information and communications technology market was 4.2 billion pounds in the financial year ended March 2002, giving it an 11 percent market share which it hopes to raise to 13 percent by March 2005.

Though BT declined to give an exact revenue target, analysts expect the ICT market to grow by six percent annually, implying an extra 1.6 billion pounds in orders and hundreds of millions in additional annual revenue if BT meets its own expectations.

"It's audacious," Catherine Hawley, senior vice president of applications hosting for BT Ignite, told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. "The market is growing at an incredible rate."

Total revenue at Britain's former telecoms monopoly was 20.6 billion pounds last year. Around 1.6 billion came from purpose-built services, such as corporate email systems, that are managed directly by BT.

This is the area in which BT wants to grow, and a spokeswoman said it had generated 2.1 billion pounds in the first three quarters of this financial year.

But BT faces competition from technology companies such as International Business Machines Corp. IBM.N and Electronic Data Systems Corp. EDS.N in the ICT market, which also includes Web hosting, data storage, and internal network management.

Hawley conceded that if BT provided only basic network connections, it would become a "utility" devoid of growth.

The group will continue to compete head to head with telecoms companies such as Cable & Wireless Plc CW.L , Colt Telecom Group Plc CTM.L and Energis, which are under similar pressure to sell higher-margin services to customers.

But Paul Rosher, head of infrastructure product management at BT Ignite, said one of its biggest competitors would be in-house information technology departments.

"It's a bit like the turkeys voting for Christmas," he said of corporate IT employees letting their jobs go to BT. "So we need to engage the right people in the company."

Last month, BT signed a large outsourcing contract with the European arm of U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International Ltd HON.N , which BT said was similar in size to a seven-year, one billion euro deal struck with consumer products giant Unilever ULVR.L in November.

Good article ainsey! It's about BT, which is a company with shares! Nice work!

F

BT going well and at 180p intraday - up 3.61% along with the market and the sector - slightly outperforming with Bagdad said to be just 2 days away at this time ..... 5 week high

ains



Government backs industry broadband strategy
10:34 Friday 21st March 2003
Tony Hallett, silicon.com


The government has accepted a list of suggestions from the Broadband Stakeholder Group, but ensuring action will still be a challenge
The government has responded to suggestions from the UK's Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) and so far the pressure group likes what it's heard.

In a written statement to the House of Commons, E-minister Stephen Timms said: "Broadband in the UK has really taken off over the last year. We now have one of the most competitive markets in Europe -- with a wide choice of technology and some of the lowest prices worldwide.



"I am very pleased to accept the recommendations of the BSG. We are already taking much of the work forward."

The BSG, in its second annual report, made 15 recommendations and the government has broadly accepted all of them. In some quarters the government is still seen as holding back broadband rollout by failing to twist the arm of service providers -- as other countries have done -- and neglecting rural areas, but the BSG is nevertheless encouraged.

BSG chief executive Antony Walker said: "This is pretty positive and shows we are singing from the same hymn sheet. But agreeing to everything doesn't mean it won't be challenging (for them) to deliver on their commitments."

In particular, the government is looking for the public sector to aggregate its demand for broadband in certain areas, with the help of the Broadband Task Force. This makes it economical for service providers -- generally BT, in most areas -- to serve a community, including homes and the private sector.

Walker said this policy is going well but still has "huge challenges". For example, pooling procurement can slow down rollout.

Wireless is another area where the government must move carefully. Broadband local area networks, typically using a strain of the 802.11 standard, are a way of cheaply sharing high speed connections, but carving up spectrum usage can be problematic.

The government has committed funds to make sure of the necessary project management expertise for creating a workable integrated broadband approach.

The BSG's Walker added: "We don't need a tsar or someone else evangelising. They have good people in their team already but they are simply over-worked."

E-minister Timms pointed out that over 32,000 people and businesses are signing up to broadband every week in the UK right now and more than 70 percent of the population can get a high-speed connection.

On Thursday analyst house Datamonitor forecast that broadband will soon become a mass-market phenomenon across Europe.

Last retreat for BT's prancing piper
23 March 2003, Mail on Sunday

HE BT piper is preparing to blow his last fanfare. The logo, introduced in 1991 in a controversial 50m makeover, is now considered tired, out-of-date and no longer representative of what the telecoms giant does.






Designed by corporate stylists Woolf Olins, the piper was never popular with disgruntled staff, who faxed each other obscene variants.



They were also horrified at the huge sums spent on the logo while BT was in the middle of its first wave of mass redundancies. Critics also pointed out how similar the prancing piper was to a logo used by Royal Insurance's arts sponsorship programme.



But one former BT executive closely involved with the launch said it was 'an image that people grew to love'.


'I didn't like it at the time but it did work quite well,' he said. 'We had to drop the name British Telecom because we could not use it as a trademark in Europe. The piper was good because we could base advertising around it.'


This time round, BT is likely to go for a low-key rebranding launch as it gradually phases out the piper over the three-year lifecycle of BT vans. The logo was updated with slightly different colours in 1999.


'Whatever happens, you won't see the company spending a fortune to repaint everything on the same day,' said a BT spokesman.


Corporate rebranding exercises are now fraught affairs for firms. Changing the Royal Mail's name to Consignia in 2001 was a total flop and last year it became the Royal Mail again. And BA infamously suffered a snub from former Prime Minister Margaret


Thatcher when it dropped the Union flag from its tailfins in favour of ethnic designs.


One BT insider said that at a meeting of 200 senior marketing staff in London before Christmas, 'it was made pretty clear that the image was tired'. He added: 'In 1991, BT was a phone company. It is a different company now.'


A BT spokesman said: 'The logo is under review. No final decision has been taken.'


BT is believed to be looking for pitches from advertising companies. Woolf Olins, which was paid 4 million for the old logo, is unlikely to be in the running. A BT executive said: 'The piper has run out of puff.'

New homes to be primed for broadband
17:47 Monday 24th March 2003
Graeme Wearden


Building regulations could be altered in an attempt to make it easier to install cables in and around new houses
Builders could be forced to make all new homes broadband-friendly by installing cable ducts and chambers into the fabric of the building if government proposals published earlier this month become law.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has presented the building industry with several possible changes to existing regulations. They would, if implemented, help increase broadband take-up by making it much easier for households to install cables in and around their home, and the most far-reaching would cost the building industry an estimated 70m per year.

BT customers get help to watch TV!
Tuesday 25 March 2003, 6:39:58 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Peter Harris
BT Openworld customers no longer have any excuse for missing their favourite television programmes.


The ISP has teamed up with Onthebox.com to offer a text-based TV reminder service. Customers sign up online and click on selected programmes from a wide range of regional, national, cable, satellite and specialist channels - from Anglia to Zee TV. Alerts are then delivered via SMS to their mobile phone 15 minutes, one hour, two hours or six hours before the programme starts.


Customers should go to www.btopenworld.com, to access the service and register their details. Alerts are priced at 25p per text.


Nick Hazell, online director at BT Openworld said: "We aim to provide the best tools for our customers. This particular service is designed to help users take time out of their busy lives to watch the programmes they enjoy. Lets face it, weve all meant to watch our favourite soap or an interesting documentary, but got sidetracked by other things. Now, thanks to a combination of the internet and mobile technologies, theres no excuse."


Stuart Horwood, managing director BT Wholesale markets, who provided the technology, said: "We are delighted to be announcing this SMS service which demonstrates BT Wholesales ability to provide applications for consumer-facing lifestyle products as well as its established infrastructure solutions."


Charles Black, of Onthebox.com, who are supplying the programme listings, said: "Text alerts are a very exciting addition to the Onthebox TV listings as they enable users to get added benefit from the service. Our research and testing of the service have shown that the programme alerts will be very popular. Weve partnered with BT Wholesale to deliver the SMS functionality and are delighted that the service is being launched exclusively on BT Openworld".

BT Wholesale have released details of plans to extend the number of SDSL exchanges from 22 upto 100. This extension is due to be completed by the end of May 2003. With a commercial launch of the service this summer.

We are lead to believe by information passed on by Service Providers involved in the SDSL trials that the rollout will be something like:
14th April: 28 exchanges in Greater London, Greater Manchester and parts of Yorkshire
19th April: 11 exchanges in Greater London
28th April: 17 exchanges in the West Midlands
12th May: 22 exchanges in Scotland

BT Unveils New Speeds
British Telecom, Telewest, begin race
British Telecom today unveiled several upgrades to their DSL offerings that are in the works, including a 1Mbps broadband service to be launched sometime next year, with trials starting this Autumn. The company also announced it would be modifying its "trigger levels" (or how many subscribers are needed near a rural CO to warrant installation), as well as expanding the range for the company's 512Kbps ADSL offering. BT also says its SDSL offerings will be extended from their existing 22 local exchanges to a total of 100 by this May, with a commercial launch of the technology scheduled for this summer. Calling BT a "one trick pony" UK cable provider Telewest announced plans for a new 2MB service the same day.

ZDN - Both the government and BT must do more to help the creation of high-speed wireless networks in the UK if Broadband Britain is to become a reality, MPs said on Tuesday.

Leading a debate on broadband in rural areas, Sir George Young MP criticised the government for not doing enough to close a digital divide which currently means that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of rural areas have no access to affordable broadband.



According to Sir George, the government has failed thus far to give out full details of how it will deliver broadband to every school, hospital and GP's surgery, as promised by Prime Minister Tony Blair last November.

Many MPs are keen to see this commitment fulfilled in such a way that the wider community also benefits -- perhaps by ADSL-enabling the local exchange or installing a Wi-Fi connection that could be shared by surrounding households in the evenings -- rather than a solution such as using leased lines that wouldn't be shared.

"A bolder and preferable target for the government would be to specify a delivery mechanism for schools which would bring both opportunities for that school, and automatically pull through additional broadband infrastructure to rural areas that might otherwise have to wait a long time for broadband under normal commercial conditions," said Sir George.

Several other MPs backed this point, and two urged e-commerce minister Stephen Timms to make the 2GHz band available to telcos.

"The government has not released the 'sweet spot' 2GHz spectrum," said Sir George, adding that the government had to make a decision between concentrating on making the maximum revenue through spectrum auctions and on making appropriate spectrum available.

Timms did not address this point in his response to the comments raised in the debate, though.

BT has been urging the government to give it access to 2GHz for months -- a request that had been refused, as the spectrum is already used by military and security services. Some experts, though, have indicated that 2GHz is not the best spectrum for broadband and that telcos should look at 3.4GHz, 5.8GHz and even 28GHz.

Although some MPs congratulated BT for its recent broadband initiatives such as its registration scheme and its mini-DSLAMs, the telco did not escape criticism.

Richard Allan MP pointed out that the telco had the power to either help or hinder the work of community activists who are trying to build broadband wireless networks in their area, and suggested that BT should offer an affordable product to link these networks to its backbone.

"We need some imagination from the providers of fixed line networks, who are in a position to encourage or discourage wireless rollout. Wi-Fi groups aren't allowed to feed all their traffic down one ADSL line, so BT could come up with an innovative and helpful contract for these people. It wouldn't have to be free, just competitively priced," suggested Allan.

In his response, Timms agreed that wireless had a key role to play, and suggested that the upgrading of public sector buildings to broadband could help bring down the cost of connecting Wi-Fi networks to the Internet.

"The solution isn't that government provides subsidies for broadband. Instead, it's the public sector's role as a customer that is so important. We need to maximise that demand, and ensure that it is used to bring broadband to local communities," Timms told the assembled MPs.

Timms added that he had recently visited a company called Rutland Online that is setting up a Wi-Fi network which had told him that 50,000 of their projected 90,000 spending over two years was made up of network backhaul costs. By upgrading building such as schools to broadband, the government might help to bring this cost down by helping to create more infrastructure, Timms suggested.

BT has offered thousands of its workers a 3.8 per cent pay rise.

The Communication Workers Union has recommended that its members accept the deal, which will benefit around 80,000 workers, ranging from operators to engineers.

A ballot of workers will start next week and the result will be announced mid-April.

A BT spokesman said: We believe it is an offer which acknowledges the contribution of our employees.

By Quentin Reade

BT to trial 1Mbps ADSL
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 25/03/2003 at 15:10 GMT


BT is to trial a new home-based 1Mbps ADSL service in the autumn which, if successful, could be rolled-out as a full commercial service before the end of the year.

News of BT's decision to provide a 1Mbps service comes on the same day that Telewest said it plans to trial a 2Mbps service for its consumers ahead of a full launch later this year.

BT Wholesale also confirmed that it now has more than 750,000 ADSL-connected end users and - despite some doubts - is on target to hit one million broadband punters by the summer.

In a raft of announcements made today, BT Wholesale claims that it is listening to its customers (ie. ISPs) and is working to offer new services.

Many of today's announcements are merely teasers for trials and pilots for later in the year and in some cases full details, such as pricing and spec, have yet to be finalised. However, today's announcements give an idea of BT's progress on broadband.

For example, as well as trialling a 1Mbps service for the home, BT Wholesale is also to test an entry-level 256Kbps product in the autumn. However, there are indications that BT does not regard this as being a true "broadband" service and is unlikely to market it as such, even though this will be an ADSL product.
Prices and other details surrounding both the 256Kbps and 1Mbps services are expected to be announced in the summer.

BT is also planning to extend the reach of its ADSL service which it claims will mean that an extra 600,000 households in DSL-enabled areas should be able to hook up to broadband. The reason why they can't lies in the fact that BT's 512Kbps ADSL service is only effective up to a range of around 5.5km from the exchange. Beyond that, and the line can suffer a reduction in signal strength leading to a duff service.

However, the telco now reckons it can effectively extend the range to 6km and still maintain a decent line quality to provide a 512Kbps ADSL service. The predictions are that 97 per cent of those connected to ADSL-enabled exchanges will now be within reach when this new initiative finally goes live sometime in June.

On a similar note, BT is also mulling whether to introduce a "simple fix" that would mean people connected to their local exchange via optical fibre (which doesn't support ADSL) - rather than copper - should be able to get broadband. Once again, more details of this are expected to be published next month will a full service launch pencilled in for June.

Providing an update on its broadband demand registration scheme, BT reports that so far 300,000 people from non-DSL areas have registered their interest in ADSL. So far 35 exchanges have been upgraded as a direct result of the scheme with a further 206 in the process of being upgraded by BT.

By next Monday, BT expects to publish triggers for a further 102 exchanges where demand has been strong but which have so far not been given thresholds.

Finally, BT is also expanding trials of its SDSL service from the current 22 exchanges to 100, with a view to launching the service commercially in August this year.

155 now.......new lows coming or a bounce from previous lows around 1.45?

Clearly they will move with the market and the sector ..... not sure that should move with the war news ..... but that's the market

This looks good


LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group has said it will cut prices on evening and weekend phone calls in the UK, making some charges up to 20 times cheaper than those of its main rivals.
BT Together customers will pay six pence for up to an hour on all evening and weekend calls made in the UK, BT BT.L said in a statement. The BT Together scheeme will see the end of per-minute charging for all evening and weekend calls with one rate for UK and local calls.

Market seems to like the marketing initiative - up 3% @ 167p




LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC, the UK's dominant telecom provider, said it would cut call costs on its most popular household offer BT Together from June 1, making it up to 20 times cheaper than its main rivals.

The company said it will scrap per-minute charging for all evening and weekend calls and make distance irrelevant, with one rate for UK and local calls.

Under the new scheme BT's 10 mln BT Together customers will pay 6 pence for up to an hour on all evening and weekend calls made to anywhere in the UK.

According to prices quoted by BT, 30-minute and 1 hour national evening calls with One.Tel cost 78 pence and 1.53 stg, compared with 6 pence under BT Together.

A single 10-minute national evening call using Carphone Warehouse costs 13 pence more. At the weekend British Gas charge 45 pence for a 30-minute call, and the Post Office 1.08 stg, said the company.

Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, said: "We are determined to be competitive and build on our position as the consumer champion in fixed-line telephony."

"Claims by some competitors of savings over BT are often just plain misleading, as they are based on comparisons with our standard rate, which is only for customers for whom it would not be economic to be on a fixed call package," he added.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Porter said, "a number of people have indicated they can come into the market and have easy pickings."

"This is designed to be a very strong signal to everybody that we intend to protect our market share," he added.

Analysts estimate the impact of price changes on BT's revenues will be too small to show up.

CSFB said, in a research note, that total local and national calls account for about 1.8 bln stg of revenues, of which about half are residential, and about half of these residential customers are on BT Together.

In turn less than half of these revenues (about 200 mln stg of revenues) are from off-peak call minutes, said CSFB.

Still moving up @ 172p up 6% intraday :-))



BT has found a way to fight back against its fixed line rivals and make money; the shares are up and it looks good news for investors unless consumers cotton on to what lies beneath today's price changes.


BT, a long-standing Citywire tip, has made much of the 'radical' price changes it has announced today for its millions of fixed line customers, claiming it is 'up to 20 times cheaper than its major rivals'.

The move is clearly designed to try to protect its existing customer base from the ever-increasing competition. Recently Carphone Warehouse has entered the fray to sell fixed line telephony as well as mobile, and announced a deal to run a service for Sainsbury. Tesco is another contender as are One.Tel and cable operators Telewest and NTL.

But 'radical' does not mean cut-price and close inspection of the changes reveals most customers will actually be forced to pay much more for their calls.

BT confirms this. Although increased marketing costs will hit earnings in the short term it expects payback in 12 months and to increase revenue and profits thereafter. This is why its shares are up 8.5p to 170.5p.

How come? Interestingly, BT (BT.A) does not actually use the words price 'cuts' in today's announcement, which is nevertheless supposed to stop its 20 million residential household customers from fleeing to the competition.

BT's new offer is for customers of its BT Together package, who, it says, will pay only 6p for up to an hour on all evening and weekend calls made to anywhere in the UK.

The telecoms giant also criticises rivals for comparing their prices with BT's 'standard' rates rather than its discounted packaged rates.

However, Charles Wigoder, chief executive of smaller rival Telecom Plus (TEP), the London-listed supplier of fixed and mobile telephony as well as gas and electricity, reckons the 6p rate will actually mean a 20% price increase for the average BT customer.

Wigoder reckons that the average call length for domestic calls is under 4 minutes. BT's current evening and weekend rate is 1p a minute with a minimum fee of 5p, so Wigoder maintains that those customers making an average, sub-four minute phone call will now pay 6p instead of 5p.

On top of this, the BT rates apply to BT Together packages, which cost from 11.50 a month to 28.50 for a deal that gives the user the first hour of calls free at any time of day.

'I heard BT was making this announcement today and came into the office with trepidation. I expected them to do something competitive, but I'm delighted with this,' Wigoder said.

Fixed line telephony was worth some 5.2 billion in revenues to BT in 2002. The deals announced today apply only to standard fixed line calls within the UK. They do not apply to premium rate number, calls to mobile phones, calls to special numbers such as 0845 or 0870-pre-fixed numbers or to international calls.Citywire Verdict:

The good news is that BT feels rattled enough by the competition to actually start knocking competitors' pricing policies, but the bad news is that unless you regularly spend more than six minutes on each evening and weekend call, it doesn't like you're going to be any better off.

As consumers we are now bombarded by different rates and tariffs from our mobile and fixed line operators, which makes working out who is really better off, the customer or the operators, a bit of a nightmare.

Investors should be encouraged that BT is resilient in the face of competition but it is a shame that confusion marketing appears to be the solution it has chosen.

2003 Citywire

clearly broadband will become a commodiy



LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC said it would cut wholesale prices for its broadband offer from May 1 and easily hit its target to connect 1 mln homes by the summer.
The company also said, due to advances in technology, it can now bring broadband within reach of 90 pct of UK homes, up from its current enabled footprint of 67 pct.

BT recently passed the 800,000 mark for ADSL broadband connections.

The monthly fee for the wholesale consumer product will be reduced by up to 2 stg and there will be even larger savings on BT's wholesale products that are aimed at service providers who serve small businesses, said the company.

Prices for the 500kbs, 1Mbs and 2Mbs products will be slashed by over 50 pct, BT said.

BT's IPStream Home 500 broadband product will cost 13 stg a month, down from 14.75 stg from May 1. There will be no change in connection fees.

BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "These price cuts will benefit everyone from service providers to consumers and businesses and will ensure that the UK continues to have some of the lowest prices in Europe."

The UK government has pledged to make Britain the most extensive and competitive broadband market among G7 countries by 2005.

BT's wholesale arm charges its own internet service provider BT Openworld and other ISPs such as Freeserve from 25 stg upwards per user per month for the use of the line and the technology to operate broadband.

Broadband delivers data at up to 10 times faster than traditional modems. But the UK is still running behind some of its European counterparts in terms of users, especially Germany where some 3 mln homes are connected.

Kick-starting mass market take-up of high speed internet connection forms a central plan of Verwaayen's strategy for BT's growth. tf/slm/

Nomura says they will not be changing numbers as result of announcements on prices but welcomes the moves

WdB has BT ass a buy with price target of 197p

Morten Singleton says expansion of addressable market increases BT's share of BB market

Merrill Lynch is very postive and believes the new pricing package offers significant discount to the new carphone warehouse deal

BT Looks Enticing

By Stuart Watson (TMFTiger)
April 3, 2003


BT Group (LSE: BT.A) has had a busy week. Yesterday it announced a range of price cuts designed to help maintain a 73% share of the residential calls market in the face of increasing competition. For the most part, news of the cuts was well-received by investment pundits.

Today, BT revealed 'technological breakthroughs' would allow it to increase the availability of its broadband services to 90% of UK homes. Its current 'footprint' covers just 67% of the country.

BT reckons it will have 1m broadband customers sometime this summer. It currently has just over 0.8m. At 27 per month, that equates to annual revenues of 325m, less than 2% of BT's total sales. However, with BT serving somewhere in the region of 21m UK households, there is plenty of room for further growth. BT has also reduced its wholesale broadband prices by 2 a month, so this could filter down into lower charges from other providers.

It will be interesting to see the take-up broadband grows over the next few years and how big a market share BT manages to snaffle. The high monthly cost will obviously deter a lot of light dial-up users. Unlike the residential calls market, where our natural apathy means relatively few people will bother to shop around (just 4m have done so to date apparently), broadband is a different kettle of fish. Many people will go with BT for simplicity of course, given that they use them already, but I suspect many more are likely to shop around.

Judging whether BT shares offer decent value is not easy though. It never is when a business is in a recovery stage. You're never quite sure how far profits will rebound. Will the 20%+ profit margins of old be restored? How much growth will broadband bring and how far will it compensate for falling revenues from the residential market?

BT's current market value is 14.5b and it has net debts of just over 10b. At 167p, the shares are valued at around 12 times expected earnings for the year ended 31 March. Results for this period are due to be released on 22 May. The full-year dividend is expected to be between 5.5p and 6p, implying a dividend yield in the region of 3.5%.

At this level, for my money, BT shares are starting to look enticing. They've been overpriced, often hideously so, for the last five years at least. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if they got a little cheaper! Further progress on reducing the debt pile wouldn't go amiss either. This is not a share that is going to set fire to your portfolio, but has a place as a steady performer.

nice move up from 1.55....notice a few more bullish brokers are bringing their targets down to around 2.hard market to call at moment.

I am assumming the slighly sub 2 targets relate to the current market situation and will move northwards if and when the market starts moving.



ains

April 04, 2003

Tempus

Still plenty of fight in BT
By Suzy Jagger



THE PHONE giant BT is hoping to cheer up consumers with a string of price cuts to mark its new financial year. On Wednesday the company unveiled a new tariff, which sets a maximum of 6p for off-peak calls that last up to an hour. It followed that yesterday with a cut in the benchmark wholesale price for broadband services from 14.75 a month to 13, and hopes the reduction will be passed on.
Investors, however, might well ask what is underlying the generosity. Although consumer price deflation is normal in telecoms, BT investors might have been forgiven for hoping that the financial woes of so many of its principal rivals Cable & Wireless, NTL, Telewest, Energis might have led to a calming down.

The broadband move is largely expected. Since the arrival of Ben Verwaayen as chief executive, BT has been converted to the belief it is possible to expand markets through price cuts. The company wants to ease broadband prices to maintain the momentum of 21,000 sign-ups a week.

But it also needs to help the internet providers using its network to compete better with cable. Cable companies are charging 25 a month, and winning market shares of up to 80 per cent where they operate. Providers using BT network are typically charging 27 or 28 a month.

The 6p for an hour plan is more defensive. BT wants to make life more difficult for cut-price rivals taking advantage of carrier pre-selection a new technology that allows a customer to change their telecoms supplier just by signing a form.

When similar technology was introduced in France it wiped 16 per cent from France Toms market share in a year. Carphone Warehouse, the retailer, which has already launched a service, has signed up 31,000 customers in two months.

Yet it is easy to get overexcited. In both cases, cost-cutting something the company is expert at means the price reductions should be affordable. Unlike France Tom, competition is nothing new to BT. It has maintained an 81 per cent share in residential usage after nearly 20 years.

BT does face other problems. There is no revenue growth from mobile phone use and the yield at 3.5 per cent is low. There are worries about the health of the pension fund, but alarmist FRS17 deficits of 9 billion are exaggerated and BT already contributes 200 million a year extra. These handicaps are well known, and while they might put off a buyer, investors should not run scared as new competitors to the company emerge. Hold.

New Look

IF ONLY New Look shares were as fashionable as the combat trousers and crop tops they sell.

While New Looks teenage ranges may be cheap, the equity stock trades on a 30 per cent discount to the rest of the sector and observers are inclined to look for the bad news in any statement made by the company.

Yesterday was no exception. The shares fell 15p to 223p as New Look confirmed that it would meet full-year profit expectations and said sales excluding the impact of new space had risen 7.7 per cent in the 52 weeks to March 29.

What spooked investors was the revelation that underlying sales growth had slowed to just 1.5 per cent in recent weeks while the gross margin had fallen by 0.4 percentage points.

New Look blamed a slowdown in the retail environment and a move by customers to buy more clothes in the January sales than in the run-up to Christmas. The group also said it was up against very strong comparatives from 2002.

But New Look is confident about its prospects. Profits for the year just ended are expected to come in at about 84 million, a healthy 34 per cent increase over the 2002 numbers. In 2004, analysts expect the company to make about 100 million, delivering earnings per share of 31.7p.

Consumers are undoubtedly spending less but New Look could find itself more protected from the vagaries of the market than some of its rivals.

The company is working on a rejig of its portfolio, which involves expanding a number of stores and modernising smaller more old-fashioned ones. Both moves are delivering a strong uplift in sales.

New Look is on a prospective multiple of 7.7 versus the sector average of ten. It is yielding about 4 per cent, compared with the sectors 4.5 per cent. Consumers look more likely to use a value-conscious retailer than many of its peers. Hold.

Carillion

CARILLION, the construction and services company, picked up the latest in a string of road maintenance contracts yesterday worth up to 160 million. The contract, for Surrey County Council, shows how construction companies such as Carillion can expect to grow revenue by 10 per cent this year, despite the gloomy times.

Since its demerger from Tarmac, Carillion has become adept at securing new-style maintenance contracts and has cast off the bad old ways of its construction heritage. Now 80 per cent of its revenue comes from just 20 key clients. Customers are spread across the public and private sector and include Asda, Arlington, the office park developer, and Network Rail.

Ostensibly this stands Carillion in good stead. There are signs of weakness in the commercial property sector, which will take away one of Carillions sources of revenue. But, if cutbacks on capital expenditure become more widespread, longtrumpeted public sector spending on roads, the railways, hospitals and schools should emerge to fill the gap.

Carillions share price has suffered from negative sentiment towards the sector, caused primarily by Ameys collapse and concerns over the PFI process. But the company has survived Network Rails decision to take some maintenance contracts back in-house and accounting issues are not a concern. A strong relationship with the UK Highways Agency and a burgeoning PPP portfolio overseas will add to the 5 billion forward order book.

The shares trade on a p/e ratio of seven times, which is average, and with a good geographical and business mix it looks more resilient than sector rivals. Buy.

tempus@thetimes.co.uk

Irritating but not life threatening and guess lower priced mean more traffic and business over time


ains


BT must cut internet fee to rivals
Jonathan Prynn, Evening Standard 4 April 2003

T has come under attack from telecoms regulator David Edmonds for the wholesale prices it charges other operators for unmetered internet access.


Edmonds ordered BT to slash its wholesale prices by 17% and refund rivals such as Energis and Cable & Wireless for excess charges levied since December 2001. This could mean lower charges for consumers using dial-up internet services.


The company said the move would cost it between 10m and 15m for the backdated refunds and a similar amount annually from now on. BT shares fell 3 1/4p to 169 3/4p in early trading.


The order, which follows a two-year investigation, applies to narrow-band access to the internet.


Other operators were effectively being overcharged for BT's ' routeing' system - the equivalent of points at a railway junction - which directs calls around the BT network.


Edmonds said: 'When Oftel required BT to introduce a wholesale unmetered internet access service, BT introduced a number of additional measures to support the new services and which were included in the charge to other operators.'


However, technological improvements made by December 2001 meant that these measures were no longer needed, Edmonds said. As a result he plans 'to order BT to reduce its wholesale unmetered internet access prices by 17%, which represents the costs of the now unnecessary measures'. He added: 'These savings could be passed on by other operators to their customers.'


The move will benefit about 10 million internet users, the vast majority of whom do not use BT as their service provider.


Edmonds said: 'Oftel's action will ensure that operators and consumers pay a fair price for unmetered internet access from BT and reflects the relevant costs that BT incurs to provide the service.'


The move came the day after BT announced its second cut in wholesale broadband prices in a year.




2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.

BT unveils community broadband scheme

London, April 4 2003, (netimperative)



by Susie Harwood

BT Wholesale has confirmed that it will go ahead with the full national launch of its ADSL Exchange Activate project aimed at bringing broadband internet to small local communities.


The news comes shortly after BT announced plans to extend the reach of high-speed internet access to more than 90% of small homes and businesses, up from 67%. It plans to do this by revealing new trigger levels for around 600 exchanges that need to be activated by customer demand in order for BT to upgrade the exchange.

However, Bruce Stanford, products director at BT Wholesale, said that even with this new initiative, there would still be gaps to fill in, which is where the Activate project comes in.

The scheme involves a sponsoring body that has a social, development or commercial interest in bringing broadband to specific areas. The sponsor pays a lump sum to get groups of 30 customers connected to ADSL equipment for a three-year period. The first 30 connections will cost 45,000, with subsequent groups of 30 on the same exchange costing 30,000.

Stanford said that trials for the Exchange Activate product have been well received. Trial areas include Corwen in Wales, where partnering organisations that have provided funding and are delivering the service include Denbighshire County Council in conjunction with eCommerce consultants.

This is good news as it helps to increase the market .....




ISPs start cutting prices

London, April 4 2003, (netimperative)



by Susie Harwood

Several UK ISPs have already announced price cuts to their broadband offerings following BT's wholesale cuts yesterday, despite claims by other ISPs that there are no new cost savings to pass on to consumers.


PlusNet and Eclipse Internet both confirmed that they would cut broadband prices from May 1, when the BT cuts come into effect. PlusNet said that it would cut its entry-level home Broadband ADSL product, ADSL Home Surf from 19.99 to 18.99 a month, while Eclipse is reducing the cost of its services for small businesses by almost half.

Eclipse ADSL Connect 1000 service will fall from 95 to 52 a month, while the 2000 service will be 82 a month, down from 140. The ADSL Connect 500 Lite service will also be cut from 22.75 to 20.38.

These price cuts come in response from an announcement from BT that it will cut the cost it charges ISPs for standard domestic broadband connections to 13 from 14.74 a month per customer, and small business services by over 50%.

However, the announcement was criticized by many ISPs, including AOL UK, which claims that BT has recently increased the activation cost per customer from 25 to 20, meaning that these price cuts will not benefit either the service providers or consumers as BT claimed they would.

BT had a sweet week last week....will OFTEL worries as BT try to crush their rivals into dust bring the monster back down again?
http://www.polskishop.com/7_04_03.htm

Lots of good news this morning - futures way up - new loga as well - sector up - - looks good

a very long piece by Nic Fildes of Dow jones on the new image - he concludes that with the turnaround achieved by Verwaayen ove the last year - 5million to rebrand the company is money well spent

Up 3.65% - outperforming market and sector :-))



ains

Scotsman

Sphere we go with new logo for BT


TELECOMS giant BT today revealed its new 5 million spherical corporate logo, which replaces the "piper" who has trumpeted the firms services since 1991.

But Ben Verwaayen, BTs chief executive, insisted the group was not changing its image for the sake of change and there would be no "big-bang" advertising campaign to accompany the new logo, which is the firms second since it became British Telecom in 1980.

He said: "BTs business and its culture is changing so it is important that we have a brand identity that represents the multi-faceted nature of our business. The new logo does the job. It represents BT as being in tune with the multi-media age ."

Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retails consumer division, said the piper had done an excellent job but had " become associated with some outdated perceptions of BT as simply a fixed-line telephone company".

British Telecom has updated their logo tgo reflect their new multi faceted business.
The last upgrade cost 50 million is this one a bargain at 5 million?
http://www.polskishop.com/9_04_03.htm
STOCKSURGERY
www.polskishop.com

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British telecoms company BT Group Plc BT.L said on Wednesday it is rebuilding its presence in Japan two years after its high profile retreat from the world's second largest economy.
BT said it was not planning a return to the days of a big Japan business, but is seeking to strike deals with Japanese firms looking for network management and outsourcing services, especially in Europe.

BT scaled back its business in Japan in 2001 when it sold its stake in Japan Telecom 9434.T as part of a global retrenchment to focus on its European businesses and cut debt.

"We're not looking to go back to the stage where we had a big presence there," said Roger Westbury, spokesman for BT Global Services, the business services and solutions division formerly called Ignite. "We're interested in talking to those companies that are looking for global services and in particular want a presence in Europe," he said.

"We don't see ourselves building networks all around the globe, but if you want a global network we can buy capacity and strike deals and partnerships with other network owners."

Westbury said BT's operation in Japan remains small, with about 15 people.

The FT.com website said BT is talking to a number of global Japanese companies about co-operating to provide network management services, including hardware vendors involved in systems integrations, such as Fujitsu.

It said BT has been building its regional undersea cable networks in the Asia-Pacific region, but it relies on local telecoms companies to manage the local network.

250 exchanges to get ADSL by Autumn
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 09/04/2003 at 09:31 GMT


BT reckons that growing demand for broadband will enable the telco to convert a further 250 exchanges to ADSL by the end of September. The prediction is based on current levels of broadband interest in areas currently not served by ADSL.

Since BT's demand-led scheme - which sets thresholds representing the level of demand needed to make conversion to ADSL commercially viable - went live last year some 850 exchanges have been given trigger levels. Of those, just under 50 have met their threshold, been upgraded to ADSL and are now live.

A further 245 exchanges have so far hit their threshold and are currently in the process of being upgraded to ADSL. Oh, and BT is to award trigger levels to a further 600 exchanges by the autumn.

Esat BT launches rival broadband service
Thursday, April 10 10:20:16

(BizWorld)

Esat BT has launched a broadband service for Irish consumers to rival a recent offering from Eircom.

The company is to charge a monthly rental of E49.49 for DSL, which is 10 times faster than standard telephone connection, compared to Eircom's charge of E54.45.
Both firm's broadband product will be available to more than 700,000 telephone lines throughout Ireland over the coming weeks with availability rising to one million lines by the end of the year.


Esat BT also said it will charge E190 for installation, which includes a modem. Eircom's set up fee is similar to its rivals, but it charges E145 for a USB modem.

"We are delighted after months of campaigning to now be in a position to fulfil our commitment to deliver affordable, broadband internet access to consumers," said Esat BT chief executive Bill Murphy.

Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, has been pushing for cheaper broadband and flat rate internet access - the latter is due in June - saying that they will drive demand and boost Ireland's e-commerce economy.

A little weak this morning with Durlatcher suggesting they are a trading sell ..... hmmmmmmmmm

LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC, the UK's dominant residential telecom supplier, has applied for a High Court injunction to stop strike action by BT engineers.

"We are questioning whether the strike ballot process was carried out correctly and there is an issue over whether the correct notice was given," said a BT Retail spokesman.

The planned strike, set for Monday, stems from a dispute between the union and its voluntary Self Motivated Teams bonus scheme.

The company claims about 6,000 of its 14,000 engineers have already signed up for the scheme and since it started in January they have each earned, on average, an extra 62 stg a week.

But the Communication Workers Union claims the scheme is divisive and puts staff under pressure to increase productivity.

"Also it is not going to be voluntary in the longer term, and it works on a point system which varies depending on location and duties," said a CWU spokesman. The union represents about 13,000 of BT's engineers.

The previous scheme was based on working overtime.

If the union goes ahead with its plans, a 24-hour strike on April 14 would be followed by action on April 25 and April 28.

tf/rn/ak

I note that Durlatcher are getting increasingly nervous about their trading short recommendation :-))




ains

BB is vital and this kind of low leval activity will help over time


BT helps ADSL campaigners
By Tim Richardson Register
Posted: 11/04/2003 at 14:19 GMT


BT Wholesale is trying to make life easier for its unpaid army of volunteers who are trying to muster enough support to get their local exchange converted to ADSL.

It's just launched a new service designed to provide support and encouragement for campaign groups trying to generate enough interest for the telco to cough up and upgrade their exchange.

As well as tips and advice, local campaigners can also send off for promotional material such as leaflets and stickers to help promote the telco's ADSL broadband demand registration scheme.

BT Wholesale says it will print and distribute leaflets on behalf of individual campaigns, provide copy for local papers and magazines and also supply advertising material.

3rd in the top 100 risers list intraday @ 185p - up 5.41% against the sector @ 1.79% and the market @ 1.83% ...... two month high ..... which is nice



ains

Outperforming market and sector at plus 1.51% @ 185p


LOS ANGELES (AFX) - CB Richard Ellis, a real estate service company headquartered in Los Angeles, and BT Commercial, one of the largest full-service brokerages in Northern California, said discussions regarding the merger of their respective San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento brokerage operations have been suspended indefinitely.
A recent announcement confirmed that discussions between the two firms were being pursued "pending a successful resolution of conditions required of such a transaction".

CB Richard Ellis president Brett White said: "Both CB Richard Ellis and BT Commercial agree that the strategic merits of the proposed merger remain compelling. However, the near term integration challenges proved extremely complex. We soon concluded that attempting to simultaneously integrate the Northern California operations of all three firms at this time would lead us to a less than optimal result."

As to when the discussions might resume, both Brett White and Mike Kamm of BT Commercial agreed that no timetable exists, and no further discussions are planned at present.

newsdesk@afxnews.com slm/

BT supports broadband campaigners

16 April 2003
- by Veronique De Freitas



BT has launched a new website supporting local community groups that are campaigning to bring high-speed internet connection to small towns and villages.

Campaign in a Box helps locals boost broadband demand around their neighbourhood with practical advice on successful campaigning.

Currently around a third of the UK cannot get ADSL services via their telephone line. The website offers tips on starting a campaign, a list of areas with current campaigns and an order form for campaign leaflets and posters.

Philippa Winterburn, BT Wholesale's head of broadband marketing said: "The key to successful local broadband awareness campaigns has been the energy and drive of the individuals who can see what broadband will mean for them and their communities. Their enthusiasm is infectious and highly effective at a local level."

Campaign in a Box is accessible via BT's broadband website, by clicking on Broadband Campaigns.


Related items:
www.bt.com/broadband

Tribunal agrees with oftel and dismisses complaint

outperforming sector and market today @ 188p - up 3.59%

Still trying to get through and hold 190p



10:08 Thursday 24th April 2003
Reuters


Telecoms companies reported their earnings this week, signals indicate that the worst may be over
A ray of light broke through the gloomy telecommunications sector on Wednesday as earnings results from a number of companies demonstrated their ability to manage through a difficult environment.

Long-distance telephone company AT&T and BellSouth both swung to a profit in the first quarter, despite lower revenues, on reduced costs and capital spending.



Nextel Communications, the fifth-largest wireless telephone company, posted a 21 percent jump in revenue, thanks to its unique walkie-talkie-like service, popular with big-spending business customers.

Even troubled equipment maker Lucent Technologies posted a narrower-than-expected loss as its revenue grew sequentially and it posted strong profit margins.

The shares of all three companies rose, as did the North American Telecommunications Index.

The gains repaired the sector's sell-off earlier in the week, after Sprint, the No. 4 US long-distance company, posted weak first-quarter revenues and cut its earnings and revenue forecasts for the year.

After the market closed, wireless operator AT&T Wireless Services and cell phone chipmaker Qualcomm posted solid quarterly results on higher revenues.

The beginning of a turnaround?
"We think the bear market's over," said Nicholas Gerber, portfolio manager of Ameristock Mutual Fund. "In the bear market, any bad news gets exaggerated and any good news gets discounted. Now we're beginning to see a change of that. Bad news still gets exaggerated, but so does good news."

"The big question is, 'Is this the beginning of the rising tide that lifts all ships?" said independent telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan.

"Unless you believe that telecoms is irrelevant in the future, which no one believes, you've got to believe that there's going to come an inflection point," he said.

The telecommunications industry has been undergoing a period of transition as people spend less time on traditional phones and more time on email and cell phones. High-speed Internet networks have been cutting into the number of telephone access lines in service.

Local telephone companies have entered the long-distance market with aggressive price promotions and discounted packages of local, long-distance, Internet and wireless services.

Meanwhile, a slowdown in the economy has caused telecommunications companies to cut back on capital spending, hurting equipment companies like Lucent. Competition among cell phone operators has intensified amid slowing customer growth.

New York-based AT&T said earnings from continuing operations rose 18.6 percent to $529m (332m), widely beating analysts' expectations. The company said its full-year results would meet or beat its previous forecasts.

"While the trend line is still negative as far as revenue declines go, it's fair to say that things seem to be stabilising," said Raj Dave, a debt analyst with Commerzbank Securities.

Nextel reports 'incredible quarter'
Atlanta-based BellSouth, the dominant local phone company in nine Southeastern states from Kentucky to Florida, said earnings, excluding one-time items, fell but still beat analysts' estimates.

Including its Cingular Wireless joint venture with SBC Communications, revenue fell 4 percent to $6.9bn. Cingular increased its revenue slightly while adding 189,000 new customers after two straight quarters of losses.

Reston, Virginia-based Nextel posted a quarterly profit that widely beat analyst expectations as customer turnover fell to a four-year low.

"What an incredible first quarter, especially in light of Sprint's poor numbers," said Todd Bernier, wireless analyst with Morningstar. "They continually are grabbing share."

Nextel's results contrasted sharply with the No. 4 US wireless operator Sprint, which posted a wider loss and revenue that fell short of expectations.

Lucent reported a slightly wider second-quarter loss, but earnings before one-time items also topped Wall Street's expectations.

AT&T Wireless on Wednesday posted a first-quarter profit and revenues rose as its customer base increased.

Qualcomm posted a higher net profit and revenue, helped by demand for its advanced cell phone chips that allow users to surf the Web at high speeds.

Shares of AT&T closed up $3.20, or 23.2 percent, at $17.01, where they were the second-most actively-traded issue.

BellSouth closed up $2.50, or 11.5 percent, at $24.21, and Lucent rose 4 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $1.72. Nextel shares rose $1.32, or 10.7 percent, to $13.67 on the Nasdaq.

Overall, the North American Telecommunications Index rose 6.5 percent, compared with an increase of less than 1 percent by the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago and Jessica Hall in Philadelphia)

BT division moves to Brussels
[Communications Update 24 April 2003]

BT Global Services has announced that its executive team, currently based in London is to relocate and join its Business Services and Solutions division in existing facilities close to Brussels airport. The location has central links to transport and business amenities in Europe and has also been selected as the base for the companys new Network Control Centre. The company hopes that the move will be seen as an indication of their commitment to the European market.

BT seeks services role
By Martin Courtney, IT Week [28-04-2003]
The carrier aims to lead multi-supplier outsourcing and services contracts for corporates




BT Global Services has said it can cut the cost of corporate network operations by up to 50 percent for firms that sign up to its outsourcing deals.

"It takes a leap of faith but it is not completely stupid to think that we can run the network [for firms]," said Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail. He stressed that BT would use the skills of multiple partners, such as Accenture, Computacenter, Cisco and Nortel, to deliver many services.

The carrier is currently working with IT consultancy Accenture to manage a contract for retailer Sainsbury's, delivering an entire new network, including WAN and LAN infrastructure, as well as desktop PC management, across the company's 400 UK stores, providing services such as virtual private network (VPN) links, data storage, email and IP telephony.

Richard Holway of analyst firm Ovum Holway said that BT's strategy of sub-contracting parts of each deal makes sense. This approach could deliver savings to some companies - but not all.

"Multisourcing [in this way] is much easier, because the customer can change one of the components rather than being blackmailed for the whole of the contract," Holway commented, adding that outsourcing is currently a growth area in an otherwise depressed IT industry.

BT itself will focus on delivering WAN links, though it is not clear whether the carrier's existing frame relay and ATM-based infrastructure is suited to the task.

"We are moving from frame relay and private virtual circuits to IP-based networks, focusing on replacement with MPLS connections and getting peer-to-peer communications between offices," said Andy Green, chief executive of BT Global Services.

BT Midband to cost 35 a month
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 28/04/2003 at 11:14 GMT


BT's "midband" service - a 128k Net access product based on ISDN and aimed at people who can't get broadband - is to cost significantly more and do even less than the telco's entry-level ADSL service.

When details of BT Midband were first raised in November last year it was suggested that the service would cost around 25-30 a month - the same(ish) as existing BT's ADSL services.

But documents seen by The Register reveal that BT Midband is to cost 35 a month and limit users to up to 150 hours online a month.

The service goes live on June 1. BT is expected to make a formal announcement about BT Midband later this week.

BT Midband is based on the telco's Home Highway ISDN service and should be available to around 97 per cent of the UK population.

Ordinarily, BT Midband chugs along at speeds of up to 64k. However, when users need to download a large file, for example, it automatically ramps up to 128k.

But - and it's a big but - using the service at the quicker speed eats up users' allotted 150 hours online more quickly and means customers get less time on the Net.

So, in normal usage punters will get somewhere between 75 and 150 hours a month for their 35. Anyone exceeding this cap will be charged on a pay-as-you-go basis although unused hours can be carried over from month to month.

According to the monster telco, BT Midband is "an alternative flat rate (fixed monthly fee), high-speed Internet package" and is "not intended to be an 'always on' service".

The service has a two-hour session limit although punters will be able to sign on again immediately after they've been disconnected.

BT denies the service is a "poor substitute" for broadband insisting that it is a "significant improvement on standard dial-up connections" and will "meet the needs of a great many of our customers".

Earlier hopes that the service might be linked with an always-on email service have also been dashed due to "technical challenges along the way".

Sector is virtually flat today despite overall market gains





Mon 28 April 2003 11:30AM BST

BT targets smaller companies with new outsourcing service
Size does matter...



BT is to target companies with a minimum turnover of 50m with a new outsourcing service, a shift in its strategy which until now saw it focus on larger organisations with a turnover of more than 100m.


BT said today that it is now working with such customers on a "strategic and tactical level" to design, implement and manage their entire ICT (information and communications) infrastructure.



Craig Rowland, managing director of BT Business, said in a statement: "The cost and logistics of outsourcing an operation have until now been prohibitive for many firms, even though they are competing against ones which do have greater economies of scale. By making our outsourcing expertise more widely available, we will be able to help many firms use communications to make better use of their IT and thus operate more efficiently."


Charges are based on the level of involvement from BT, but the company said that there is no requirement for a minimum spend. Customers can opt for anything from basic network management to full service delivery including the transfer of people and assets.


The service will be provided in conjunction with BT's partners, including Cisco, Dell and Oracle.

14:12 Monday 28th April 2003
Graeme Wearden


Despite an Oftel investigation looming large over the horizon, BT isn't backing down over its plans to reduce the cost of its wholesale ADSL products
BT is adamant that it will cuts the cost of its wholesale broadband products this week, despite an Oftel investigation into the legality of the move.

The telco announced earlier this month that the prices of its wholesale business ADSL packages will fall by over 50 percent, in addition to a smaller reduction in the cost of its consumer ADSL product.



These cuts are scheduled to come into place on 1 May. They have been thrown into some confusion, though, by Oftel's investigation. Several of BT's rivals have complained that they are anticompetitive because they are not being applied to certain network products used by large operators with their own backbone networks.

It is understood that this investigation could reach a conclusion within days, but BT is pressing on with the cuts regardless.

"We've announced the cuts, we told Oftel about them beforehand, and we're definitely going ahead with them," a BT spokesman told ZDNet UK News on Monday. He added that BT had supplied Oftel with significant amounts of information about the cuts, but had not yet received any official word about the investigation.

Oftel can take up to three months to conduct an investigation, but it is rumoured that a decision might be taken before the end of this week.

An Oftel spokeswoman confirmed that an investigation into the price cuts was underway, following complaints from Thus, Energis, and Tiscali.

"Really, it is for BT to ensure that any price cuts or new products are compliant with its licence," explained the Oftel spokeswoman.

The complaint is based on the fact that BT has only cut the price of its IPStream range of products -- which BT Wholesale sells to ISPs -- and not its Datastream service, which large operators with their own backbone networks use to take advantage of BT's ADSL connections to the home.

Thus, Energis, and Tiscali claimed that this move breaks the terms of BT's licence by creating a margin squeeze, under which it could sell wholesale broadband at unfairly better terms than its rivals.

oftel broadband thingy out - no surprises

LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC and Kingston Communications PLC will continue to have to provide operators with wholesale broadband access under the new EC communications directives, according to telecommunications watchdog, Oftel.
Oftel comments are included in its market review of the wholesale broadband market which has been published as part of its work to implement the new EC Directives on electronic communications that come into force on July 25.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said today: "Oftel's review of the wholesale broadband market has found that BT and Kingston in the Hull area still have significant power in this market.

"Oftel proposes to continue under the new EC communications directives with a number of obligations on BT and Kingston to ensure other operators can compete with them to provide broadband services."

Measures to promote competition include requiring BT and Kingston to provide access to their broadband networks on reasonable request, not to discriminate against other operators, and provide accounting separation between their wholesale and retail broadband services.

Edmonds said, "These measures will support the continued growth in broadband take up by ensuring that consumers have access to a wide range of broadband services at some of the cheapest prices in Europe."

newsdesk@afxnews.com

H2 on the 22/05



weighed down by some cautious comments on the European wireline telecoms sector from Morgan Stanley, dealers said. According to the US broker, European fixed-line revenues are expected to decline in the first quarter of 2003 due to substitution and the weak economic backdrop. Morgan Stanley advised clients to avoid BT, as it believes the former monopoly operator will show poor revenue growth and flat EBITDA for the full year to the end of March. BT's long-term EPS growth rate stands at less than 1 pct, said the broker, which believes BT will be hard pressed to increase its dividend payments over the longer term. "The company is not the cash cow that many think," said Morgan Stanley, which reiterated its 'underperform' and 165 pence price target on BT. An actuarial pension review -- expected to accompany the full-year figures -- will provide further downside risk to the share price, warned the broker. Also weighing on the BT share price was a report in this morning's Daily Telegraph alleging that the group will lift its self-imposed ban on major acquisitions amid fears that sales will fall into decline.

Royal Mail to outsource 1.5bn IT operations
By Mary Fagan
(Filed: 2003-04-27 00:01 )

Royal Mail is preparing to outsource its nationwide IT operations in a deal worth up to 1.5bn.

The company is expected this week to sign a 10-year agreement with a consortium including CSC, the American computer services group, and BT, the telecoms giant. The deal involves the transfer of 2,000 jobs out of the Royal Mail group.

The move is part of Royal Mail's drive to focus on its core operations and to slash operating costs. The group has already outsourced building operations and maintenance as well as employee health services.

Royal Mail's massive IT operations are among the biggest in the UK. They span the maintenance of Royal Mail's mainframe and desktop computers as well as automation of sorting offices and mail-tracking systems.

The operation is currently spread across a number of locations including London, Farnborough in Hampshire and Chesterfield in Derbyshire.

The latest deal is likely to cut Royal Mail's annual costs by many millions of pounds. The group is already set to reveal sharply reduced losses for last year when it announces its financial results at the end of May.

Under the leadership of Allan Leighton, the chairman, Royal Mail has embarked on a three-year recovery programme which will involve the loss of around 30,000 jobs.

The company will announce in May that it has completed a sweeping restructuring of its Parcelforce arm which will generate further savings in this financial year.

Royal Mail has also announced a programme of urban post office closures.

Easing off a little today with sector and the market. CPW are making a new offer on calls that save you a half penny on an hour long call Zzzzzzzzzzzzz



ains

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two more telcos run to Oftel over BT BB 'margin squeeze'
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 30/04/2003 at 11:56 GMT


Two more companies have lodged formal complaints against planned price cuts for one of BT's wholesale ADSL products.

Telecoms outfits mediaWays.uk Ltd and Your Communications have joined the chorus of complaints from Energis, Thus and Tiscali alleging that planned price cuts to BT's IPStream product will lead to a margin squeeze.

The price drop announced earlier this month only applies to BT's 'IPStream' service - the wholesale end-to-end service provided by BT Wholesale to the telco's retail operations and other service providers.

However, Energis, Thus, Tiscali (and now mediaWays.uk Ltd and Your Communications)have complained to Oftel claiming that BT has failed to pass on similar price cuts to its wholesale Datastream service - a product that allows other service providers to use their own networks to provide competitive broadband services.

A spokesman for Your Communications told The Register that the planned cut in price for the IPStream product was a "classic margin squeeze".

He welcomed any move by Oftel to postpone the proposed price cuts while the regulator completed its investigation into the matter. However, realistically, he doubted whether Oftel would do so.

Last week, industry insiders told The Register that Oftel was mulling the idea of blocking the price cut while it carried out a full investigation into complaints that the cost cut is "anti-competitive".

Related Stories
Oftel could block BT's ADSL price cut
Thus complains to Oftel over BT ADSL 'margin squeeze'
Tiscali blasts BT's 'anti-competitive' ADSL price cuts
BT confirms ADSL price cuts
BT to cut wholesale ADSL prices

Sector under pressure today



15:09 Thursday 1st May 2003
Graeme Wearden


BT's interim solution for those stranded by the broadband divide will cost as much as ADSL but only offer a fraction of the speed
Technical and pricing details of BT's Midband service were released on Thursday, and the reality is significantly different from the picture painted by the company last year.

The 128Kbps ISDN-based product will cost 35 per month, almost as much as BT's consumer broadband service once line rental is taken into account, but will only be a quarter of the speed of ADSL.



Midband will actually drop to 64Kbps when the service decides that this lower speed is all that is required, based on what applications are being run. It also drops to 64Kbps when a voice call is being made.

Users will also only get a limited amount of time online per month in return for their 35. They will be restricted to a total of 150 hours of surfing at 64Kbps, or 75 hours at 128Kbps, per month. Unused time can be carried over each month, up to a maximum of 50 hours at 64Kbps.

Unlike true broadband products, Midband will not be always-on. It also will not support always-on email access, despite the fact that Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, has previously said that it would.

Danon announced Midband at last November's e-summit, and billed it as the solution to Britain's high-speed digital divide.

As well as promising always-on email, Danon also said that Midband would be "cheaper, but not much cheaper" than BT Broadband, BT's no-frills ADSL broadband product which costs 27 per month.

BT has now said that because Midband's 35 price tag includes line rental, which normally costs 9.50 per month, the service is effectively 1.50 cheaper than BT Broadband, for which people must also pay for a standard phone line.

Where Midband does shine is in its coverage. ADSL is only available to around two-thirds of homes, but Midband will be available to 97 percent of the population, according to BT.

BT, which is aiming to reach 90 percent coverage for ADSL, says Midband is an interim solution for people who want faster Internet access but whose local exchange isn't yet ADSL enabled.

Some of the telco's rivals, though, are scathing about the product, with one source yesterday slamming it as "Noband", and drawing a disparaging comparison between BT and "Comical Ali", the former Iraqi Information Minister.

Midband orders can be placed with BT from Thursday, and it will be rolled out from 1 June.

Sounds OK to me - as a shareholder


LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC has come under fire after it emerged that several hundred Indian software developers are being employed in the UK but are being paid in India at greatly reduced rates compared to UK workers, reported the Times newspaper.
The news comes amid growing union resentment over plans to open two new call centres in India.

The engineers are employed by Mahindra BT, an Indian software company in which BT owns a 43 pct stake.

"Some observers claim that the software developers could be earning just a quarter of the rate in Britain," said the paper, citing union officials. tf/slm/

Richard Wray
Tuesday May 6, 2003
The Guardian

Advertisements are popping up all over the country for the new range of telephone directory inquiry services which will replace the 192 number when it
is phased out in August.
Marketing by new entrants looking to challenge BT's dominance of the 300m-a-year 192 market seems to be working with more and more consumers aware of the new six digit 118 numbers. But some callers, especially mobile phone users, who have tried the new numbers before the 192 switch-off, are likely to get a nasty surprise in their next bill, according to industry sources.

The price of the new services varies depending on whether the call is made on a landline or a mobile phone. On some mobile networks a two-minute call to a 118 number could cost as much as 2.

William Ostrom, director of communications at one of the new directory inquiry companies, Infonxx, admits there is a "bomb" waiting to go off in consumers' pockets especially because at least one of the operators, Conduit, has made a lot in its ads of the boast that it charges half the price of BT.

"There is a potential shock going to go off in people's mobile phones when they get their itemised bills and realise that calling other 118 numbers is expensive, particularly Conduit's because people think it is half the price of BT."

A one minute call to Conduit's 118888 number does cost about half the price of a similar call to BT's 118500 number, provided it is made using a BT phone. On a mobile phone the same call can cost as much as 65p - the same as a call to BT's 118500.

A spokeswoman for Orange said the mobile phone networks need to recoup their costs. "The charges vary according to the cost charged by the supplier of the directory inquiries service. With over 84 new companies and over 300 numbers applied for from Oftel, we have adopted a pricing structure which allows us to recover the costs of supplying access to our customers," she said.

But others in the directory inquiry industry believe the mobile phone companies are profiteering and at the very least consumers will be confused at a time when the new numbers are just being accepted.

Conduit, an Irish call centre specialist which already operates inquiry services in other European countries, is probably the highest-profile new entrant. "I do not want to put numbers on it but we are 50% ahead of where we thought we would be," said chief executive Liam Young.

Mike Holliday-Williams, commercial director of One.Tel, says that up to a quarter of his existing customers are already using the company's 118111 number. But BT's chief executive of directory inquiries, Paul Elliott, maintains that "the vast majority of people are still dialling 192".

BT is still getting over a million 192 calls a day and, while advertising by operators, including BT itself, has helped, most callers will not register the change until the 192 number is switched off, he reckons.

As a result, there is a fierce battle going on between BT and the new entrants over exactly what message callers to BT's 192 number will hear when the service is cut off after the August bank holiday.

BT's position is simple: "We want BT callers who call 192 on BT phones to be told how they can get hold of BT directory inquiries. We want it to say that 192 is no longer available and the new number for BT directory inquiries is 118500. We are then happy to advise that other numbers are available."

That is unacceptable to BT's rivals and as a result the telecoms regulator, Oftel, has been dragged in to deal with the situation. "We are absolutely adamant that Oftel ensure there is fair competition when the old number is withdrawn," says Mr Young.

must admit I could never understand what they were saying - anyway. Has to be good for BT shareholders



IAIN DEYBUSINESS CORRESPONDENT - scotsman


UP TO 10,000 jobs might be lost in Scotlands call centres over the next five years as banks and insurers continue to ship jobs to India, according to the latest research.

Following a fact-finding mission to Bangalore, white-collar trade union Amicus has warned that Indias cheap but highly-educated workforce will continue to lure ever more back-office jobs from Scotland.

Further pressures to cut costs and continued improvements in technology will spark a fresh jobs exodus, the union has claimed, similar to that seen in Scotlands electronics industry during the past three years.

Evidence from the study, incorporating work done by academics in two UK universities, will be heard at a conference in Edinburgh today.

Roger Lyons, joint general secretary of Amicus, told The Scotsman: "10,000 jobs will pour out of Scotland over the next five years unless we take action immediately. We have seen the destruction of Scotlands traditional industries over the past 20 years and financial services have replaced metal bashing.

"We have to plan now to meet the reality that many companies are re-locating to India to cut costs and protect share dividends".

He added: "Industry, politicians and trade unions have now got to sit down and ask what it is that Scotland does best and plan to ensure that Scotland positions itself high enough up the industry food chain to protect its future."

Scotland is home to about 200 call centres, employing about 40,000 staff. In Glasgow alone, the industry accounts for 16,000 jobs.

Insurance giants Aviva and Prudential have recently announced plans to open call centres in India. Financial giants HSBC, Citigroup, GE and JP Morgan have already set up Indian operations.

Lloyds TSB also said it has "dipped its toe in the water," running its new government-backed Universal Bank from a centre in India with a staff of about 200. And telecoms giant BT recently sparked controversy by revealing its intention to open call centres in New Delhi and Bangalore this year.

Alongside an analysis of the impact Indias call centres willhave on the UK industry, the group has investigated working practices there to ensure that international labour standards are being met. The final report is expected next month.

Despite the fact that many administrative and call centre workers in India have two university degrees, the researchers found that labour costs are on average 40 per cent cheaper than they are in the UK.

Amicus said the governments 1 per cent cap on the administration charges levied by life and pensions companies is forcing these businesses to find new ways to cut costs.

The union also claims that "there is no evidence to date that corporate social responsibility is high on the agenda for organisations outsourcing or relocating to low-cost economies".

BT workers in Glasgow have also staged strikes in protest at the telecom companys plans to open call centres in New Delhi and Bangalore later this year.

Management consultant Accenture has previously predicted that as many as 70,000 UK insurance jobs will be outsourced to India by 2010.

Scottish Financial Enterprise chief executive Amanda Harvie said "there is no evidence" that Scottish-based financial services companies are relocating their call centre jobs.

She added: "Many financial services call centre jobs require a high level of skill to explain often complex issues, and thats where Scotland comes into its own."

A spokesman for CBI Scotland said: "There is increasing global competition for call centre jobs and what we have to do is ensure that we are higher up the value chain."

BT urges action on rural broadband bbc news


Getting broadband into schools is a priority
BT has called on the UK Government to kick-start rural broadband initiatives.

BT's Director for Public Sector Broadband, Patricia Jones, said it was no doing enough to get fast net services to those on the wrong side of the digital divide.

"Frankly government efforts are too slow," she said. "I challenge it to get 20 regional initiatives up and running in the next year."

In a debate in parliament last week, E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms acknowledged that the government needed to do more to improve broadband coverage.

If public sector organisations had broadband, then these connections could also be used by local residents he said.

Broadband chief

But talks with BT have revealed cultural differences about the best way to get broadband to councils and other local groups, said Ms Jones.

It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications

Stephen Timms, E-commerce Minister
"The government has disciplines, that while laudable, take a very long time to execute," she said.

"The pace has to be stepped up if the government is to get the UK to the top of the European league tables," she added.

The government has been criticised by MPs for not doing enough to provide broadband to the third of the UK which still does not have access to the technology.

As part of the drive to promote broadband, the government has named a civil servant at the Department of Trade and Industry as its director of broadband.

Stephen Speed will be responsible for managing official broadband policy, including benchmarking the UK with other nations and ensuring that schools and GP surgeries get the cheapest possible access to broadband.

2006 deadline

Some progress has been made on getting schools and surgeries wired

Broadband in schools may be the be all and end all for Stephen Timms but for Charles Clarke, getting kit in schools is the be all and end all,

DTI spokeswoman
According to the Department of Health, 1,397 of the 8,000 GP surgeries signed up to NHS Net have been upgraded since January and the rest will get broadband by 2004.

Around 40% of schools have broadband connections.

The government is committed to a 2006 deadline for all schools, GP surgeries and courts to be connected to fast net services.

To push it forward at ministerial level, Stephen Timms himself will head up a steering group with representatives from each of the major government departments to make sure that they are all doing their bit to ensure the widest roll out of broadband.

BT says that it has given the government a roadmap for how to get broadband coverage up to 90% of the population.

But the government says it is juggling a lot of different balls.

"Obviously broadband has to be fitted in with other priorities," said a spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry.

"Broadband in schools may be the be all and end all for Stephen Timms but for Charles Clarke, getting kit in schools is the be all and end all," she said.

Increasingly MPs have been taking an interest in fast net access, especially those who live in broadband black spots.

Mr Timms reassured parliament that the UK was finding its broadband feet after a shaky start.

"It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications," he admitted.

But the government is hopeful that this month the UK will pass the two million connections mark, just nine months after the millionth connection was celebrated.

sector just positive


By David Kuo (TMFDragon)
May 6, 2003


The deregulation of the telecom industry in the eighties breathed life into a sleepy and unattractive sector. It also brought to the attention of the private investor the tremendous potential of investing in businesses that were far from lethargic and showed the capabilities of being able to grow through innovation.

Much was expected of the telecom operators, and also from those businesses that were associated with the sector, like equipment suppliers. To be honest, far too much was expected of these companies and valuations ran way ahead of reality. Billions of pounds were thrown at the industry creating a telecom bubble and valuations that could never be sustained.

Today, I see the telecom sector as two separate, though somewhat interconnected, industries. The fixed line sector comprises those businesses that operate through cables and wires that allow voice and data to be transmitted through fixed line networks. The wireless sector does much the same job but predominantly through the airwaves.

BT Group (LSE: BT.A)(NYSE: BTY) is still the largest fixed line telecom operator in the UK. Traditional voice services at BT are likely to come under threat because of cheaper offerings from alternative telecom providers. This could put revenues from its conventional voice services under more pressure. Nevertheless, the main driver for growth at the company is likely to be broadband services. In January, BT said it was signing up in excess of 25,000 broadband customers a week.

The company, which is on a valuation of 21 times historical earnings, does not appear to be that cheap at first sight. Its high level of debt, which stood at 12.9b at the end of December, makes it even more unattractive. However, profits are expected to have risen in the year ended March 2003, putting the company on about 12 times earnings for this period. The shares currently offer a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Tomorrows Times

BT defuses India pay row


The UK is losing call centre jobs to India
Telecoms giant BT has denied reports that Indian workers subcontracted to work for the company in the UK are paid less than their British counterparts.

The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that software engineers employed by Mahindra BT, a BT joint venture based in Pune, Western India, could be working in the UK for as little as a quarter of the usual wage.

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said it was investigating the reports.

"BT's got to be really careful with its reputation," a CWU spokesman said.

Trade union groups have previously clashed with BT over its decision to open new call centres in India rather than the UK.

Rebuttal

But BT said the Mahindra BT employees' full remuneration package was in line with the wages usually paid for software maintenance work in Britain.

"The total package of the Indian sub-contractors working on BT projects is comparable to those of their UK counterparts and well above the UK national wage. They do not lose out," the company said in a statement.

"We are extremely proud of our employment record and of our commitment to corporate social responsibility."

BT added that Mahindra BT subcontractors are typically employed to carry out basic software maintenance, freeing up BT engineers to work on "leading edge developments."

Farmed out

Many of the usual restrictions on Indian nationals working in the UK have been eased for Mahindra BT employees thanks to an inter-company transfer arrangement, the Times reported.

Outsourcing customer service and IT maintenance work to Indian subcontractors is a growing trend in the UK, with many companies attracted by India's low labour costs and highly skilled workforce.

Last year, HSBC chief executive Sir Keith Whitson caused an outcry by suggesting that the bank's Indian call centre staff performed better than their British counterparts.

ann on premium rate voice deal worth 70 million

someone somewhere always seems to be whinging .... guess they must be doing something right :-)


MP critical of 'unfair competition' from BT
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 06/05/2003 at 15:19 GMT


Labour MP Brian White has branded a recent wholesale price cut from BT as "unfair competition" and called on the telecoms regulator to react more quickly to complaints.

He also blamed "BT's dominant position in the wholesale market" as being repsosible for current problems concerning the roll out of broadband across the UK.

The comments from the MP for Milton Keynes North East followed formal complaints to Oftel from five telcos (Energis, mediaWays.uk Ltd, Thus, Tiscali and Your Communications) concerning price cuts for BT's wholesale IPStream ADSL product - the wholesale end-to-end service provided by BT Wholesale to the telco's retail operations and other service providers.

The telcos argue that BT has failed to pass on similar price cuts to its wholesale Datastream service - a product that allows other service providers to use their own networks to provide competitive broadband services.

Oftel is currently investigating the complaints.

Said Mr White: "BT is reducing the price of IPStream... but it is not reducing the price of DataStream, which network suppliers use. Telecoms companies that use their own network and therefore use the DataStream product, however, pay a higher price. To me, that is unfair competition.

"The matter has been raised with Oftel, but the procedures by which it is being resolved are far too slow. Again, one of the issues that was raised when we discussed Ofcom was the speed with which such regulatory issues are resolved. Those kinds of barriers cause real problems. When Ofcom comes into existence, we need to ensure that its speed of reaction is far faster than Oftel's," he said.

Earlier in the debate, the e-minister, Stephen Timms, talked up the progress being made in broadband: "It is no secret that compared with a number of other countries the UK has made a slow start with broadband communications" before adding that the UK is now making "rapid progress".

He also announced that "career civil servant", Stephen Speed, has been named as Director of Broadband. As part of the newly created position, Mr Speed is to take overall responsibility for coordinating the implementation of the Government's broadband strategy.

BT DIALS AMERICAN BOOST SKY NEWS

BT plans to more than double its network size in North America after scrapping its joint venture with big US rival AT&T.

It is to add 14 new network "nodes", or connection points, to take the total to 23 in cities across the US, Canada and Mexico.


Its aims of beefing up its presence in North America is part of ongoing expansion across the world.

It has also signed up two Asian telecoms partners, Japan Telecom and Singapore's Starhub.

BT had considered buying up a US network operator or setting up North American partnerships, like it did in Asia.

Problems

But it eventually decided that an acquisition would cause network integration problems and take too long to complete.

BT expects to spend about 4.7m expanding the North American network - some 65% of the 2,000 multinational companies it targets have a presence there.

The work will take place over the next three years in cities such as Toronto, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Detroit, Washington DC and Mexico City.




Last Updated: 09:19 UK, Thursday May 08, 2003

J P Morgan overweight on BT - optomistic on pension situation and cash flow

going well today and outperforming market and sector @ plus 3.4%



ains

Their target price is 225p against the current 182p

TELECOMS giant BT is to spend 4.7 million doubling the size of its North American network as part of a plan to fill gaps left after scrapping a joint venture with United States rival AT&T.

The company said it would add 14 new network nodes, or connection points, upping its total to 23, in cities in the US, Mexico and Canada, to bring the network closer to corporate customers locations.

BT revealed the decision to add to its North American network a week after it signed up two Asian telecoms partners, Japan Telecom and Singapores Starhub, to beef up its service in the region.

"We decided to build organically in North America because it was the fastest option and gave us the best technical design," said BT Americas chief operating officer, Chuck Pol.

Mr Pol said BT had considered buying a US network operator, or setting up North American partnerships as it has done in Asia, but decided an acquisition would cause network integration problems.

"In the Americas, we looked for a franchise partner, but we didnt find one that had what we wanted," he added.

BT considered AT&T as a potential partner, but Mr Pol said matching the companies networks would have limited technical capabilities.

BTs international network is based on internet technology known as Internet Protocol , but while IP is a widely used standard in telecoms networks, it does not work the same on different carriers networks, Mr Pol said.

BT expects to spend about 4.7m expanding the North American network. Mr Pol noted that about 65 per cent of 2000 multinational companies targeted by BT have a presence in North America.

The group plans to add about seven of the network points by the autumn. It will leave the remainder for next year and the year after, depending on customer requirements.

Cities where it plans to add nodes include Toronto, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Detroit, Washington DC and Mexico City.

currently 2nd in the ftse100 risers board @plus 4.68%


09 May 2003 15:22 BST

BT shares rise ahead of results, pension gap news

By Braden Reddall and Louise Heavens
LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Shares in BT Group Plc gained five percent on Friday as investors took a second look before its full-year results, when the British telecoms firm will give a figure for its pension funding gap and put the issue behind it.

Concerns about the gap of several billion pounds will have eased with a recent recovery in the British stock market, in which much of the former monopoly's pension money is tied up.

BT announces its results for the year to end-March on May 22.

The company also received a boost this week from Goldman Sachs, which downgraded the entire wireless sector. The British company is Europe's only major fixed-line telecoms group without a mobile phone network.

"People have been switching out of European wireless into fixed line," one dealer said. Other dealers said the shares were rebounding from a sharp sell off on Thursday, which left the shares underperforming the wider market by some margin.

Shares in BT were 5.25 percent higher at 185-1/2 pence on Friday, within a few pennies of its highest close since January.

"We expect BT to announce the findings of its actuarial review, removing months of uncertainty, and give guidance on dividend policy. In both areas, we expect to hear positive news," JP Morgan analysts said in a research note, reiterating its "overweight" stance and a fair value of 225 pence.

JP Morgan estimates that under the new FRS17 accounting method, BT's funding gap is 7.4 billion pounds. But under its preferred methods, the investment bank estimates the gap is between 2.5 billion and 3.2 billion pounds.

BT has consistently said it does not expect its annual pension deficit payment to be much different from the current 200 million pounds.

In February, BT reported a better-than-expected profit, but concerns about the pension fund gap knocked its shares lower. They fell as low as 141 pence in March and despite a recent recovery, BT has still underperformed the DJ Stoxx pan-European telecoms index by 13 percent since the start of 2003.

"Operationally, the BT Group is a utility, and should trade as such. However, the materiality of the pension is such that BT equity also plays out as an option on market movement," Williams de Broe analyst Morten Singleton said, repeating a "buy" rating.

SG Securites has also reiterated a "buy" on BT, focusing on its improving profitability despite low revenue growth.

its all getting very silly with oftel behaving like a spoiled child



BT fails to stop rival copying advert
By Robert Budden, Telecommunications Correspondent
Published: May 9 2003 20:32 | Last Updated: May 9 2003 20:32


BT Group embarked on the first steps to stop a rival from mimicking its advertising campaign for directory inquiry services on Friday at the High Court in London.


BT had been running a press advertising campaign flagging its new directory inquiries number that will replace "192" when it is disbanded in August. But the telecoms group was enraged when a new entrant, The Number, copied the exact format of the advert to promote its own service.

On Friday, the High Court failed to give BT an immediate injunction on The Number's advert, but required it to give BT 48 hours' notice if it intended to re-use the same advertisement.

The ruling follows a referral by Oftel, the telecoms regulator, of BT's original advert to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Oftel is understood to have been annoyed that BT's advert did not prominently point out that more than a dozen new companies would be competing to offer directory inquiries services as part of deregulation of the sector. The 192 service will be superseded in August by six-digit numbers starting with "118". In the meantime, the new telephone numbers will run alongside 192.

The wranglings highlight the seriousness with which BT is taking the threat of new competition. BT currently answers almost 700m directory inquiry calls a year in a market worth about 300m ($480m) annually. The telecoms operator is desperate to hold on to as much of this market as possible in the face of new competitors.

As part of this drive, BT has placed an advert promoting its new directory inquiries number on the front page of all of its phone books. It is also seeking to ensure that its new number is the only service that is mentioned on a recorded message when consumers dial 192 after August.

However, these moves have provoked concern at Oftel, which is considering barring distribution of BT's phone book because of the prominence of the advert.

bought in at 182p last week and have already risen 10p on Friday on better sentiment from brokers and there is every possibility they will breach 200p next week.. lets wait and see..

Goldman Sachs initiates coverage of FKI with an in-line rating and reiterates its in-line rating for BT Group (BT.A).

oops wrong thread!

deleted

More UK firms plan broadband upgrade
17:46 Tuesday 13th May 2003
Graeme Wearden


UK companies want broadband, but nearly half of existing business users think they'd ditch it if prices rose by just 10 percent
Over a third of businesses with Internet access expect to soon upgrade to a broadband connection, according to new figures from Oftel.

In its latest survey of Internet use, the regulator found that 15 percent of firms thought they were "very likely" to move to broadband and a further 19 percent considering it "fairly likely".

This is in addition to the 19 percent of wired SMEs that had already moved to broadband by February this year, when the survey took place.

Businesses who currently use a pay-as-you-go dial-up connection are most likely to move to broadband soon, with six in 10 expressing an interest.

Insufficient use of the Internet was the main reason given by small businesses for not upgrading to broadband, followed by price. For medium-sized firms, price was only the second-most popular reason for avoiding broadband, behind satisfaction with current surfing speeds.

Oftel also found that only 55 percent of businesses thought they would carry on using broadband if prices rose by 10 percent. A 50 percent rise in broadband prices would see 86 percent of business users move elsewhere -- to ISDN, unmetered or metered dial-up -- or simply stop using the Web.

The regulator cautioned, though, that this kind of research should be treated with caution because it asks people to speculate about their possible future behaviour.

Furhtermore, the research was conducted before BT slashed its wholesale business ADSL prices by some 50 percent. This is expected to give a significant boost to business broadband take-up -- a conclusion backed up by this Oftel report.

BT wants to embrace BB partners
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 13/05/2003 at 10:19 GMT


BT wants to build partnerships across the country to help extend the reach of broadband to people in rural areas.

In particular, it wants to reach out to its competitors and share with them the knowledge it has gained from a number of broadband initiatives.

Initiatives such as the project in Caerphilly where BT is working with the local borough council, the Welsh Development Agency and steelmaker Corus, to provide broadband to more local people and drive down costs for small businesses - and all to help revitalise Caerphilly's economy.

Laudable stuff indeed.

According to Bill Murphy, MD of BT Regions: "BT is leading the way towards a truly Broadband Britain.

"BT is now volunteering to share its initiatives with other partners who also wish to see wider access and greater take-up of broadband services, in a truly competitive UK marketplace.

"In addition, we will make our 'Broadband Britain Blueprint' available to our competitors who also have responsibilities for creating a broadband-enabled society across the UK," he said.

May 16, 2003

TIMES Rumour of the day



BT GROUP ticked up 3p at 189p amid talk that next weeks full-year results could be accompanied by a large contract win from Royal Bank of Scotland. The telecoms carrier, which has recently sealed deals with Unilever, HBOS and Abbey National, is said to be the front-runner for a five-year outsourcing and network management deal valued at north of 100 million.

Durlatcher reminds their trading clients that the close was highest since january and expects a breakout to the upside ..... hope so - my third biggest holding at this time


ains

Zooming up the riser board - now 8th @ plus 2.51%

I expect you use BT a lot in your search for guttesnipes

LOL!!!!!!!!!'

csfb have a new note out - bullish on forthcoming results but expecting some profit taking

reuters


BT (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) , MMO2 RESULTS

Europe's fifth largest mobile phone company mmO2 , increasingly seen as a takeover target, reports first half numbers, while BT will also update investors.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect BT to show full-year underlying pre-tax profit at between 1.784 billion and 1.835 billion pounds up from the previous year's 1.273 billion.

Darren Winder, UK equity strategist at UBS Warburg said UK equities were undervalued.

"There is still quite good valuation support in equities. It does seem more appropriate to take profits in bonds than equities," said Winder.

Britain's institutional and retail funds cut their holdings of bonds and raised their exposure to equities in April, monthly data from Lipper showed on Friday.

"With the dividend yield at 3-4 percent and a third of the market with price to earnings ratios as low as the last recession, support is pretty strong," said Winder.

"People if anything are thinking too negatively about future growth prospects. The underlying picture globally is one of expansionism," he added.

Profit taking has set in although still out-performing market and sector on the day @ plus 2p.



Friday 16th May 2003
Andy McCue, Silicon.com


BT is expecting to deliver its SDSL services this August, but is finding that most businesses are very happy with their ADSL connection
BT claims it is still on target to launch SDSL services for businesses at 100 exchanges this August, but the telco admitted most businesses are still happy with ADSL broadband and that take-up will be slow and dependant on specific business requirements.

Unlike ADSL, which is significantly slower upstream than downstream, SDSL is equally fast in both directions. This makes it more suitable than ADSL for businesses that need to send large amounts of information across the Internet -- such as small branch offices who need to upload customer records and firms that are hosting data.



Some companies are looking at SDSL for CCTV and it will suit others with remote database access needs, according to Neil Armstrong, product marketing manager at BT.

He said: "We won't see a wholesale migration to SDSL in the short-term. There are some businesses where symmetric bandwidth is a requirement but many are finding ADSL gives them everything they want. For the majority that is a huge improvement."

Fifteen ISPs are involved in the SDSL pilot at 100 exchanges, which are located in mainly metropolitan areas including London, Manchester, Leeds and the West Midlands.

BT was responding to claims by virtual network provider Vanco that businesses are being put off lower-cost ADSL broadband services because of myths that symmetric bandwidth is needed.

In a statement, Vanco said: "This argument is based on a combination of myths that bear little relation to the facts but are a highly convenient view for operators keen to protect revenues against the encroachment of low-cost broadband technologies."

But Armstrong agreed with many of Vanco's assertions that ADSL is suitable for most companies and that issues such as contention and quality of service are not really an issue.

He said: "We're very serious about broadband being the best solution for business customers and the technology is a secondary issue, whether it is SDSL or ADSL it is going to come down to the individual requirements of the businesses."

Bringing broadband to the masses


Getting broadband to rural areas is still a challenge
Technology analyst Bill Thompson lays down a challenge to UK Government - offer broadband to everyone in the UK and offer it now.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3033889.stm

MILAN (AFX) - Finmeccanica SpA chairman Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini said the company has held contacts with BT Group PLC over acquiring its Eutelsat stake.
Finmeccanica could be interested in BT's 17.5 pct stake in Eutelsat after an earlier interest in the 23.14 pct Eutelsat stake held by France Telecom, subsequently sold to France's Eurazeo.

"There are contacts with British Telecom. (But) there is not a true negotiation," Guarguaglini said.

In other comments, he said he is "rather optimistic" about reaching an agreement with BAE Systems PLC on an alliance in the defence electronics sector.

"We are continuing to discuss this. In the last month there have been notable steps forward in discussing the best structure for the alliance," he said.

Recent reports have said the two companies are discussing a broad alliance in radar, avionics and communications, with each taking the lead in the sector where they are strongest.

nt/wf

Must admit I think wireless is the way of the future ..... allows the freedom to roam whilst staying in touch


BT to put wireless net links in 1,000 pubs
By Mary Fagan (Filed: 18/05/2003) S. Telegraph


BT has forged an agreement to install local wireless broadband networks in more than 1,000 pubs across the UK. The networks, known as WiFi, allow customers to use their laptops to link wire-free into the national broadband backbone.

The plan is part of a drive by BT to accelerate broadband take-up. It will be announced tomorrow along with a separate deal to introduce very low-cost equipment, costing 400, which will transform any venue with a broadband link into a WiFi "hotspot".

BT will share the revenues with the owners of the hotspot premises, which could include cafes and restaurants, golf courses and hotels.

The pubs initiative will be launched in co-operation with Leisure Link, which installs digital gaming equipment. The outlets are likely to include branches of All Bar One and pubs owned by Mitchells and Butlers and Enterprise Inns.

BT has said it will have 4,000 WiFi hotspots around the country by summer 2005. However, Pierre Danon, the chief executive of BT Retail, will say this week that he will reach that target a year early.

"We want to keep BT's innovation ahead of the competition. The challenge is to make WiFi hot spots ubiquitous across the UK," he said.

In a bid to boost demand, Danon will also reveal that anyone buying a new BT wireless broadband modem will receive two free hours of WiFi hotspot usage every month for a period of six months. The charge per hour is normally 6.

BT pension move could save 30m
18 May 2003, Mail on Sunday

ELECOMS giant BT Group is planning a major charm offensive this week to persuade credit agency Moody's to improve its rating, which would save it a fortune in interest payments.



The company hopes to use an actuary*'s report on the state of its massive pension fund to bolster its claim for an upgrade.


If it succeeds, it could save more than 30 million a year. This is because interest rates on much of BT's borrowings depend on its credit rating. Banks demand more money from companies thought to be at a higher risk of failing to repay loans.


BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen is expected to announce profits of about 5.7 billion before interest, tax and depreciation, but the City's focus will be on the state of the pension fund, Britain's biggest.


The company must announce the FRS-17 standard valuation of the fund measured on March 31. This 'snapshot' of the size of the fund is expected to show a massive deficit as high as 12.5 billion. BT is paying hundreds of millions a year - including 600 million last year - to make good the shortfall.


But the group will also unveil a long-term review of its pension fund. When it was last measured in 1999, it was realised that it would have to be boosted because retired workers are living longer and collecting their pensions for longer.


This time, there will be a sizeable drop in the fund value because of the collapse in global stock markets since 1999, but the actuary's report is expected to argue that such swings tend to even out over the long term.


BT is hoping this argument will help convince Moody's that it is due for a credit upgrade. One analyst commented: 'BT is hoping to distract analyst and credit ratings agencies away from FRS-17 towards the actuarial review.


'The actuarial deficit is likely to be about 2 billion before tax compared with more than 12 billion by FRS- 17. Bad enough, but with BT's debt down and cash flowing in, Moody's might be persuaded to fall into line with the other agencies in relatively short order.'


Pension fund managers* and trustees have yet to see the review, which has been going on since the start of the year, and BT will be hoping this week that they can be reassured.


'There is going to be a major effort to put pensioners and employees' minds at ease over the scheme,' said a source close to the fund. 'Whenever they see these huge deficit figures, they fear that the fund may collapse. That just isn't the case.'


2003 Associated Newspapers Ltd.

I went short of these @ 195.75 on Friday.....

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I expect you use BT a lot in your search for guttesnipes

LOL!!!!!!!!!'


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Covered short @ 184.5

of course you did lol .... I don't think anyone will believe a trade taken out on Friday morning at the high but reported on Sunday afternoon long after we have all read the papers and seen the news plus the shares were already down lots at close .... roflol


ains

LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group says it has accelerated the roll-out of its WiFi network, seeking to capitalise on a new wireless Internet technology aimed at deep-pocketed corporate clients.
BT BT.L said it has launched a self-install product, developed with Japanese retail equipment maker Toshiba 6588.T , that would make it easier for pubs, shops and small hotels to become WiFi "hotspots" where travelling executives can access the Net.

"We are now committing to deliver 4,000 hotspots by summer 2004, rather than 2005," BT Retail Chief Executive Pierre Danon said in a statement.

WiFi installations allow users of specially equipped laptops and handheld devices to get wireless Internet access at short ranges.

European telecommunications companies, including France Telecom FTE.PA and Swisscom SCMZn.VX , have been agressively rolling out "hotspots" in airports, hotels and coffee shops.

BT started rolling out its Openzone WiFi network last year, and offers unlimited access subscriptions for 85 pounds per month or 300 minutes for 20 pounds per month.

BT announced on Monday the launch of a cheaper product, offering 120 minutes of access for 10 pounds per month.

Usage of the Openzone network had grown by 20 percent per week for the past two months, with users now on it for an average of more than 90,000 minutes per week, BT said.

BT has signed a deal with The Cloud, a WiFi network developed with Leisure Link Group, Britain's largest operator of slot-machines and jukeboxes in pubs. As a result, it aims to have 1,300 WiFi hotspots by the end of 2003.

Aimed largely at the corporate market, BT Openzone now has 50 major British companies as customers.

Monday 19th May 2003
Graeme Wearden


BT's wireless bundle, together with a new 'hot spot in a box', is an attempt to boost its Openzone Wi-Fi hotspot service, which has seen lacklustre usage
Customers will be able to buy a broadband connection for their home, a wireless modem, and a subscription to BT Openzone's Wi-Fi network all in one package from this autumn.

BT announced on Monday that it will begin selling the bundled offering from September. Pricing details are not yet available, but BT has said that it will cost "a single, affordable monthly fee".

The bundle is likely to appeal to mobile professionals who want the ability to use a laptop computer around their home, and who would also value the chance to surf the Web and send and receive emails in public places such as airports, hotels and coffee shops.

BT Broadband provides an ADSL connection of 512Kbps, and costs up to 28 per month on its own. The Voyager ADSL 802.11b wireless modem is also included in the bundle.

Separately, BT also announced that it is launching a Wi-Fi "hot spot in a box", aimed at small businesses such as hotels and book shops. The product includes an 802.11b access point from Toshiba, and BT will provide the network connectivity.

Sluggish take-up?
BT Openzone was launched last summer, after the government legalised commercial Wi-Fi networks. At its last official announcement, BT had around 110 hot spots, but the company insists that more have since been launched and that its target of 400 by this summer is still achievable.

Usage of the network is growing rapidly, according to BT, which said that it has now reached over 90,000 minutes of access per week.

That only works out at 1,500 hours usage per week, or around two hours per day per hot spot.

"We're still in the rollout stage," insisted the BT spokesman, pointing out that customers will be much more attracted to Wi-Fi once operators have built larger networks. "When that happens, we'll have really made Wi-Fi a useful service for people to use," he added.

One reason for slow take-up could be pricing. BT has been criticised for charging 85 per month for unlimited access to Openzone, and on Monday it also announced a new tariff. Openzone 120 gives 2 hours access per month for 10 per month -- slightly better value than the existing fee of 6 for one hour's one-off access.

BT 'ahead of schedule' madness

London, May 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Susie Harwood

BT Retail has announced that it expects to reach its target of delivering 4,000 wireless hotspots a year early, as a result of several new initiatives aimed at accelerating the roll-out of its Wi-Fi network.


The company, which unveiled its Openzones wireless network programme last June, said it remains on target to have 400 hotspots in place this summer, and expects to deliver 4,000 hotspots by summer 2004, ahead of its initial target of 2005.

One of the new initiatives includes a partnership with Toshiba to develop a new off-the-shelf product called 'hotspot in a box', which combines Wi-Fi networking gear with ADSL subscriptions. The companies are targeting small businesses such as hotels, bookshops and golf clubs that want to provide wireless broadband access to their customers.

Under the deal, Toshiba will manufacture the hotpsot technology and BT will be the wireless ISP. BT Retail claims that the new product will cost a fraction of the usual price for a WLAN hotspot.

In addition, BT said it has signed other partnership deals with Cisco, Nortel and Carphone Warehouse. BT and Cisco are working on 'guest hotspots' for use in office buildings to allow companies to offer wireless access to their visiting customers.

To encourage more businesses to install Wi-Fi networks, BT has teamed with Cisco and Nortel to offer a two-month 'try before you buy' promotion. Companies signing up for the offer will get a trial Wi-Fi network, laptop cards and a number of BT Openzone accounts and free vouchers.

Meanwhile, Carphone Warehouse is to offer a deal that gives six months free Openzone 120 access, worth 60, to anyone who buys BT's Voyager ADSL wireless modem for the home. It has also launched a new cheaper product, offering 120 minutes of access for just 10 a month.

The telco said the local hotspots created using the product from BT and Toshiba will be in addition to the BT Openzone access points that will be available in 1,300 pubs and clubs by the end of the year, as a result of a deal with Wi-Fi network The Cloud.

The Cloud, an initiative developed by Leisure Link Group, Britain's largest operator of slot-machines and juke boxes in pubs, is expected to announce the official launch of the service later this week, initially in about 1,000 pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Boost to wireless broadband BBC NEWS


Hotel lobbies could become popular venues for the wireless web
BT is speeding up plans for thousands more places around the UK where you can go online via a wireless broadband connection.
To further that aim, the telecoms giant is offering wireless starter kits, dubbed hotspots in a box, which will allow companies to set up their own wi-fi networks.

It follows the success of self-install home broadband access, which was a major contributor to kick-starting a fast net boom.

People will need a fixed broadband line from BT, but for 400 can buy the equipment necessary to provide wireless broadband as well.

But unlike the self-install fixed broadband, people will still need a BT engineer to set up the hotspot.

Battle for the airwaves

It has been confirmed that wi-fi is at least five times faster and 10 times cheaper than 3G

Pierre Danon, BT Retail

The telecoms firm envisages such services being offered in all kinds of public spaces including hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, airports and stations.

It already has partnerships with firms such as Hilton Hotels and the owners of the Costa chain of coffee shops.

The telecoms firm is keen to avoid the criticism about its slowness to provide fixed broadband services and promises to have 4,000 hotspots across the UK by the summer of 2004, a full year earlier than it has previously said.

The decision is partly a result of the popularity of such hotspots which, according to BT, have seen a 20% surge in usage in the last two months.

Mobile firms on the brink of rolling out 3G services may worry as BT puts wi-fi head to head with third generation services.

"It has been confirmed that wi-fi is at least five times faster and 10 times cheaper than 3G," said Pierre Danon, head of BT Retail.

And he believes that the technology already has the edge with e-mail as people would rather send messages via wi-fi than 3G.

"You don't do e-mail while driving or walking. 3G is about data on the move but this is about data on the stop," he said.

European boom

Most business models are not proven yet and some location owners might even consider offering the wireless service for free to attract customers

Evelien Wiggers, IDC analyst

Despite this, Mr Danon does not rule out the possibility of so-called roaming agreements with 3G firms in the future, which would offer people the chance to swap between wi-fi and 3G networks.

According to research firm IDC, wireless hotspots are set to expand rapidly across Europe.

It predicts there will be around 32,500 hotspots in place by 2007.

Whether the technology can offer profits for petrol stations, airports, cafes and other open spaces remains to be seen but it could be good news for consumers.

"Most business models are not proven yet and some location owners might even consider offering the wireless service for free to attract customers," said IDC analyst Evelien Wiggers.

Wi-fi has to date remained largely the preserve of business people on the move.

But BT believes it can be a useful addition to the home and anyone paying out 249 for a wireless modem will get six months of access to public hotspots thrown in for free.

No state handouts for broadband BBC NEWSS


60% of houses have internet connections
The government has no plans to subsidise broadband services to ensure they are available in remote areas of the UK, E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms has insisted.
Encouraging competition between service providers was a better way than providing hand-outs for getting rural communities online.

Mr Timms admitted that more than a quarter of households across the UK were not within reach of an affordable broadband service, with rural areas being the worst off.

The whole problem with the government's approach is that it has been essential for it to be demand led when infact nearly all these technologies rely on being supply driven

Bill Wiggin
Mr Timms and Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael were defending the government's position during questioning by the House of Commons environment select committee.

Members were concerned why broadband was taking so long to reach remote areas of the UK, despite the government's target of having "the most competitive and extensive broadband network in the world".

'Misleading'

Tory MP Bill Wiggin said while the ministers were "celebrating two million users connected to broadband", they were "really missing the point" that there was a "fundamental problem" with the take up of broadband.

"Something like 60% of houses in the UK already use the internet," he said.

"We are not talking about technology people don't understand and it's quite important not to mislead the public.

"The whole problem with the government's approach is that it has been essential for it to be demand led when infact nearly all these technologies rely on being supply driven and that is why there is a fundamental problem with take up of broadband."

Mr Timms acknowledged that "over a quarter of households in the country are not within reach of an affordable broadband service today".

Mobile phones

But he stressed: "That is about the same proportion as in the US. We need to recognise that this is not by any means a UK issue. It's an issue that is being faced particularly in rural areas right around the country.

"I think if you look at the history of the development of telecommunications, what you find is that the best approach is a market led approach and that where you have had attempts made to provide large government subsidies to encourage the roll-out of new technologies, that by and large has not been very successful.

"There is a short term gain, but you end up with technology that actually people don't want and, as the technology moves on... there is a market distortion introduced by large amounts of public subsidy proves to be a disadvantage in the long term."

Mr Timms said competition had been seen as a more effective tool in extending the use of mobile phone services to rural communities than any intervention by the state.

But Labour's David Borrow said the committee's impression was that the expansion of broadband was "largely market led" and this was not going to deliver access to it quickly.

BT

Tory member David Curry also urged the ministers to state whether it was "the government's aim that every community in the UK irrespective of location should be able to access broadband at affordable rates within a reasonable time".

Mr Michael admitted that there were clearly places where connection by cable or through an exchange was "not possible" but where other technologies could be the answer.

In November, the prime minister announced government spending of 1bn on broadband to improve public services, with a broadband connection in every school by 2006.

Meanwhile, BT is speeding up plans for thousands more places around the UK where you can go online via a wireless broadband connection.

To further that aim, the telecoms giant is offering wireless starter kits, dubbed hotspots in a box, which will allow companies to set up their own wi-fi networks.

LONDON (AFX) - BT Group PLC, the UK's dominant residential phone company, reported a 44 pct jump in full year profits and hiked its dividend.

For the year to March 31 2003 profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items was 1.829 bln stg, up 44 pct up on the prior year.

Group turnover of 18.727 bln stg, rose 2 pct.

According to an AFX poll of six broker forecasts BT was seen reporting profits of 1.74-1.84 bln stg.

"We are well ahead of schedule in meeting 13 out of the 14 stretching targets set at the beginning of the year," said chief executive Ben Verwaayen.

"In particular, the three year cash and net debt targets have been met in the first year, strengthening our financial position," he added.

For the last three months of the year underlying profit before taxation of 490 mln stg was up 32 pct. The figure was ahead of broker forecasts centred on 460 mln stg. Net debt fell by 3.3 bln stg to 9.6 bln. The full year dividend was hiked to 6.5 pence per share, from 2 pence. But group turnover in the final quarter increased year on year by a meagre 1 pct to 4.778 bln stg, whereas analysts had hoped for a 1.2 pct rise.

The upturn in the final quarter reflects a lower interest charge, with debt falling from 13.7 bln stg at the end of 2002 to 9.6 bln stg.

The group saved 271 mln stg in interest payments at the full year.

For the year as a whole, BT also saw a positive contribution of 181 mln stg from its associate companies, mainly France's Cegetel.

In the final quarter of last year BT's associates recorded a loss of 108 mln stg, reflecting the loss-making and now defunct Concert joint venture.

The company also made a net profit of 1.216 bln stg from the sale of its stake in France's Cegetel to Vivendi in January.

On pensions BT said its triennial funding valuation showed a deficit on the scheme of 2.1 bln stg at Dec 31 2002, up from 1 bln stg on Dec 31 1999.

As a result the annual deficiency payments will be increased by 32 mln stg to 232 mln from Dec 2003, said BT.

The group's actuaries, using accounting standard SSAP 24, showed a deficit of 1.4 bln stg at March 31 2003. As expected, this will result in an increase in the pension charge of around 120 mln stg in the year 2003/04, said BT. tf/slm/

The market likes the news and BT heads the top 100 risers board :-))

BT boosted by pension relief

By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group has delivered strong full-year profits and a better-than-expected dividend, while also putting some fears to rest about its massive pension fund deficit.

Shares in BT BT.L , which have recently been recovering from a massive sell-off due to concerns about its pension funding, rose more than four percent to 193 pence in early London trade.

Under the new FRS17 accounting standards, BT reported a 6.3 billion pound gap in its pension fund, one of the largest in Britain that has been hammered by three years of declining equity markets.

The company pleased investors with a 4.25 pence final dividend per share, raising the total payout to 6.5 pence from 2.0 pence last year.

"Our analysts like the payout ratio on the dividend which is going up and the contributions into the pension are a lot less than expected, so there will be less of a drain on earnings growth going forward," one trader said.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose 44 percent to 1.829 billion pounds in the year to the end of March, compared with a Reuters poll of 10 analysts' forecasts running from 1.784 billion to 1.835 billion pounds. Underlying earnings per share also hit the top end of forecasts at 14.2 pence per share.

Revenue rose two percent to 18.727 billion pounds, in line with forecasts.

MORE NET SUBSCRIBERS

BT is also on the brink of meeting its mid-2003 target for one million high-speed Internet connections. As of May 16, BT had 936,000 broadband subscribers on its network through its own and other Internet service providers.

Net debt dropped to 9.6 billion pounds, from 13.7 billion one year before.

BT's 6.3 billion pound FRS17 pension deficit, which was net of tax, was lower than some analysts had expected. Indicating the volatility of the measure, BT said the FRS17 position as of May 16 showed a reduced deficit of 5.7 billion pounds.

Coming off their early highs but still way ahead and will bounce again



Nick Goodway, Evening Standard
22 May 2003

BT today revealed one of the largest holes in a British pension fund, but the 2.1bn deficit - equivalent to 5,737 for each of the 366,000 members - was less than many commentators feared.



It means BT will have to raise its extra cash payment into the fund from 200m a year to 232m and lift the percentage it pays in regularly from 11.6% to 12.2%.



However, under the proposed new acounting rule FRS17, BT's pension deficit ballooned from 1.28bn to 6.3bn as share prices and other investments crashed last year. But since the March year-end, the deficit under FRS17 has come back to 5.7bn.






In a year which saw a strong recovery at BT, particularly with the slashing of net debt from 13.7bn to 9.6bn, chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: 'Our strong financial performance demonstrates our ongoing ability to reduce debt, reward shareholders and invest for the future.'



BT said it would speed up its plan to pay half its earnings to shareholders in dividends. Last year's full dividend is raised from 2p to 6.5p, paid out of earnings up 61% at 14.2p.



Pre-tax profits before goodwill amortisation and exceptionals rose 44% to 1.83bn on turnover just 2% better at 18.7bn. Verwaayen said that, with 936,000 broadband subscribers, the group would easily hit its target of one million users by the summer.



He said the service was well ahead of schedule, having met 13 of the 14 specific targets he had set at the beginning of the year.


BT's pension funds have 92,000 active members, 96,000 deferred members and 178,000 people already drawing a pension.

bbc news


UK broadband hits two million


The spread of broadband has been helped by lower prices
The UK has totted up two million broadband connections, according to the telecoms watchdog Oftel.
The success will be seen as a sign that the UK is catching up with its European neighbours in the race to be the best place for fast net services.

With new connections running at 35,000 a week, telecoms regulator Oftel is confident the UK can reach the top of the broadband league table.

"It took two years to reach one million connections but only seven months to reach two million, as increased competition and lower prices have boosted connection rates," said David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications.

Digital divide

It offers new ways of boosting education and skills, as well as giving rural communities better access to government services

Alun Michael, Rural Affairs Minister

The figures, based on information from network operators, will come as a relief to the government. It has committed itself to make the UK the best place for broadband in the G7 group of countries by 2005.

"We now have the third most competitive broadband market in the G7 and we have today hit two million connections in the UK which goes to show that we are heading, full speed, in the right direction," said e-Commerce Minister Stephen Timms.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK has seen a 200% growth in broadband in the last year, due largely to falling prices, fierce marketing campaigns and new ways to install the technology.

Avoiding a digital divide between regions that have access to broadband and the 30% that remain reliant on dial-up connections will be the next big hurdle.

And the need to connect the remoter parts of the UK to the broadband revolution is not lost on the government.

"This technology has huge potential to overcome the barriers of physical distance leading to increased productivity for our rural businesses," acknowledged Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael.

Action not words

The government's role is to get out there and buy it

Jim Norton, Independent Director
"It offers new ways of boosting education and skills, as well as giving rural communities better access to government services," he added.

Critics are increasingly calling on the government to replace its rhetoric about rural broadband with action.


"The government's role is to get out there and buy it rather than regulating the industry to death," said Professor Jim Norton, the former director of the Cabinet Office's e-commerce team.

Speaking at a broadband conference in London, Professor Norton said that the government had vast buying power.

"In rural areas the government is often the biggest customer. If it could buy better then it would create the critical mass needed for operators to invest," he said.

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said a 6.3 billion pound pension deficit posted by BT Group Plc BT.L was weighing on its Baa1 credit rating, which has a positive outlook.
"The absolute size of the pension deficit under FRS17 does cause us some concern and it's definitely an overhang on the rating," Moody's telecoms credit analyst Aidan Fisher told Reuters.

BT is among European telecoms operators with improving credit quality. Rival rating agency Standard & Poor's last month also said BT's pension deficit was constraining its credit ratings.

By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - Britain's dominant telecoms group BT Group Plc delivered strong full-year profits and a better-than-expected dividend on Thursday, while also putting some fears to rest about its huge pension fund deficit.

Shares, which have recovered recently from a massive sell-off amid concerns about BT's pension fund, rose up to six percent. By 0830 GMT, they were 1.1 percent up at 187 pence.

Investors welcomed the profits and dividend, though bearish analysts still wonder how much top line growth the former monopoly can generate in an increasingly competitive market.

Under Britain's FRS17 accounting standards yet to be used in practice, BT reported an end-March 6.3 billion pound ($10.4 billion) shortfall in one of the UK's largest pension funds, which has been hammered by three years of declining stocks.

But under the less stringent Funding Valuation measure, BT reported a pension scheme deficit of 2.1 billion pounds as of December 31. As a result, its annual cash contribution to top up the fund will rise by only 32 million pounds to 232 million.

BT Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said the valuation should be welcomed by the 370,000 pension fund members and BT's shareholders alike.

"The pension fund is safe. We have certainty now. What matters to our pensioners of course is what about the funding and what about the funding valuation," Verwaayen told reporters on a conference call. "It's good news for our investors because we are absolutely certain."

Underlying pre-tax profit rose 44 percent to 1.829 billion pounds in the year to the end of March, at the top end of a range of forecasts from 10 analysts polled by Reuters. Earnings per share also hit the top end of forecasts at 14.2 pence.

The company also pleased investors with a 4.25 pence final dividend per share, raising the total payout to 6.5 pence from 2.0 pence last year. "We have a very solid dividend payment this year, and we see improvements going forward," Verwaayen said.

Revenue rose two percent to 18.727 billion pounds, in line with forecasts.

Analysts praised the earnings numbers and higher dividend, and welcomed an end to speculation about the pension gap.

"Clarity on the pension funding situation should now ease one of the major concerns dogging the stock," said Nomura telecoms analyst Mark James, reiterating a "buy" recommendation.


MORE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS

BT is also on the brink of meeting its mid-2003 target for one million high-speed Internet connections. As of May 16, BT had 936,000 broadband subscribers on its network through its own and other Internet service providers.

Net debt dropped to 9.6 billion pounds, from 13.7 billion one year before.

BT's 6.3 billion pound FRS17 pension deficit, which was net of tax, was lower than some analysts had expected. Indicating the volatility of the measure, BT said the FRS17 position as of May 16 showed a reduced deficit of 5.7 billion pounds.

But FRS17 standards are not yet in use in accounting, and under the old SSAP 24 valuation that aims to iron out volatility the deficit was 1.4 billion pounds at the end of March. This would result in a 120 million pounds increase in the pension charge in its profit and loss account in the current year.

Finance Director Ian Livingston said: "What's important in all of this of course is the cash flow emanating from the fund, because that's the thing that pays the pension."

"Overall the money coming into the fund in the form of dividends and contributions is actually more than we paid out to the pensioners, and we expect that to be the situation for a number of years to come." (Additional reporting by William Kemble-Diaz)

SKY

UK TAKES TO BROADBAND


There are now two million broadband users in Britain, according to telecom regulator Oftel.

It said 35,000 people are signing up every week for broadband, which provides a faster service and a permanent link to the web.


Last October it was only 20,000 a month.

Oftel said lower prices and increased competition had been boosting sales.

The Government said it was stepping up its efforts to speed up the roll-out of broadband across the country.

E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms said every school would be connected by 2006.






Last Updated: 11:18 UK, Thursday May 22, 2003

Adds more quotes from conference call, fund manager, Moody's)
By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - Britain's dominant telecoms group BT Group Plc delivered strong full-year profits and a better-than-expected dividend on Thursday, while also putting some fears to rest about its $10.4 billion pension fund deficit.

BT shares, having recovered in recent weeks from pension fund fears that led to a sell-off earlier this year, rose 3.4 percent to 191-1/2 pence, putting the stock on course for its highest close in four months.

Investors welcomed the profits and dividend, but bearish analysts wondered how much revenue growth the former monopoly can generate in an increasingly competitive market. And Moody's Investor Service saw the pension deficit as a cause for concern.

Under Britain's FRS17 accounting standards yet to be used in practice, BT reported an end-March 6.3 billion pound ($10.4 billion) shortfall in one of the UK's two largest pension funds, which has been hammered by three years of declining stocks.

But under the less stringent Funding Valuation from an independent actuary, which determines how much cash BT must pay to top up the fund, the pension deficit was 2.1 billion pounds on December 31.

As a result, BT's annual cash contribution to the fund will rise by only 32 million pounds to 232 million, far less than the 100 million pounds increase predicted by analysts.

Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said the news would please its 370,000 pension fund members, as well as BT shareholders.

"It is very important that we have certainty. We know where we are. The numbers were all over the place," Verwaayen said, referring to wide-ranging forecasts for the pension deficit.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose 44 percent to 1.829 billion pounds in the year to end-March, at the top end of forecasts in a Reuters poll, helped by sharply lower interest payments on debt. Earnings per share also hit the top end of forecasts at 14.2 pence. Revenue rose two percent to 18.727 billion pounds.


DIVIDEND SURPRISE

BT also pleased investors by tripling the total dividend to 6.5 pence, and Verwaayen said the payout could improve further in the future. But analysts say this depends on whether Moody's improves BT's debt rating, and early signs were not good.

"The absolute size of the pension deficit under FRS17 does cause us some concern and it's definitely an overhang on the rating," Moody's telecoms credit analyst Aidan Fisher said.

But BT's 2011 bonds GB012368488= improved, with the yield tightening four points to 131 basis points over government debt.

Karen Robertson, fund manager at Standard Life Investments, praised the results but wondered about the potential impact of leading British retailers, such as Tesco TSCO.L and Carphone Warehouse CPW.L , entering the market for home phone services.

"They still make the bulk of their profits from the core business, and they're facing competitive pressures," she said.

But Verwaayen, forced to abandon ambitious revenue targets last year, sought to answer the concerns by pointing to falling cancellation numbers and emphasising BT's focus on profits.

"We are not looking for revenue growth, we are looking for profitable growth," he told reporters on a conference call.

One such "profit engine" is broadband, and BT is on the brink of hitting a mid-2003 goal of one million high-speed Internet connections. As of May 16, BT had 936,000 broadband users through its own and other Internet service providers.

BT's net debt fell to 9.6 billion pounds from 13.7 billion last year, hitting another target of sub-10 billion pound debts.

The pension deficit under FRS17, which takes a snapshot view, was lower than analysts had expected. Illustrating the volatility of the measure, BT said the FRS17 position as of May 16 showed a lower deficit of 5.7 billion pounds.

As for persistent rumours about BT buying back mobile offspring mmO2 OOM.L , Verwaayen repeated his belief in simply buying in services that can be packaged for clients.

"You don't need to own the mobile operator to be able to bundle for your customers," he said. (Additional reporting by William Kemble-Diaz and Alex Clelland)

LONDON (AFX) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has affirmed its 'A-' long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings on BT Group PLC, with a stable outlook.
"The continuing strong market position of BT's UK fixed-line voice and data business, supported by the group's focus on operating and capital efficiency, has enabled BT to sustain strong operating profitability and cash flow," said S&P's credit analyst Peter Kernan.

"Standard & Poor's has reviewed the assumptions that underlie BT's actuarial pensions deficit, and the way in which the scheme's funding level is being monitored and managed, and believes them to be reasonable," he said.

S&P expects BT to continue to generate free operating cash flow of more than 1.5 bln stg per year, enabling the group to comfortably fund its pension deficiency contributions and continue to reduce its reported net debt.

"BT is committed to financial discipline and we assume the group will continue to generate significant discretionary cash flow (free operating cash flow after cash dividends), which will be used to further deleverage the group's balance sheet and further strengthen its credit profile," he added.

"BT is expected to pursue a conservative and tightly controlled strategy, in particular with regard to its acquisitions and dividends policy, and maintain a strong business risk profile," Kernan said.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

16:09 BST

UPDATE 5-BT boosted by annual profits, pension relief

(Adds S&P comment paragraph 13, updates shares)
By Braden Reddall, UK telecoms correspondent

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - Britain's dominant telecoms group BT Group Plc delivered strong full-year profits and a better-than-expected dividend on Thursday, while also putting some fears to rest about its $10.4 billion pension fund deficit.

BT shares, having recovered in recent weeks from pension fund fears that led to a sell-off earlier this year, rose 2.6 percent to 189-3/4 pence in late afternoon trade, putting the stock on course for its highest close in four months.

Investors welcomed the profits and dividend, but bearish analysts wondered how much revenue growth the former monopoly can generate in an increasingly competitive market. And Moody's Investor Service saw the pension deficit as a cause for concern.

Under Britain's FRS17 accounting standards yet to be used in practice, BT reported an end-March 6.3 billion pound ($10.4 billion) shortfall in one of the UK's two largest pension funds, which has been hammered by three years of declining stocks.

But under the less stringent Funding Valuation from an independent actuary, which determines how much cash BT must pay to top up the fund, the pension deficit was 2.1 billion pounds on December 31.

As a result, BT's annual cash contribution to the fund will rise by only 32 million pounds to 232 million, far less than the 100 million pounds increase predicted by analysts.

Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said the news would please its 370,000 pension fund members, as well as BT shareholders.

"It is very important that we have certainty. We know where we are. The numbers were all over the place," Verwaayen said, referring to wide-ranging forecasts for the pension deficit.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose 44 percent to 1.829 billion pounds in the year to end-March, at the top end of forecasts in a Reuters poll, helped by sharply lower interest payments on debt. Earnings per share also hit the top end of forecasts at 14.2 pence. Revenue rose two percent to 18.727 billion pounds.


DIVIDEND SURPRISE

BT also pleased investors by tripling the total dividend to 6.5 pence, and Verwaayen said the payout could improve further in the future. But analysts say this depends on whether Moody's improves BT's debt rating, and early signs were not good.

"The absolute size of the pension deficit under FRS17 does cause us some concern and it's definitely an overhang on the rating," Moody's telecoms credit analyst Aidan Fisher said.

But BT's 2011 bonds GB012368488= improved, with the yield tightening four points to 131 basis points over government debt.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's affirmed BT's A- long-term and A-2 short-term corporate credit ratings following the company's results.

Karen Robertson, fund manager at Standard Life Investments, praised the results but wondered about the potential impact of leading British retailers, such as Tesco TSCO.L and Carphone Warehouse CPW.L , entering the market for home phone services.

"They still make the bulk of their profits from the core business, and they're facing competitive pressures," she said.

But Verwaayen, forced to abandon ambitious revenue targets last year, sought to answer the concerns by pointing to falling cancellation numbers and emphasising BT's focus on profits.

"We are not looking for revenue growth, we are looking for profitable growth," he told reporters on a conference call.

One such "profit engine" is broadband, and BT is on the brink of hitting a mid-2003 goal of one million high-speed Internet connections. As of May 16, BT had 936,000 broadband users through its own and other Internet service providers.

BT's net debt fell to 9.6 billion pounds from 13.7 billion last year, hitting another target of sub-10 billion pound debts.

The pension deficit under FRS17, which takes a snapshot view, was lower than analysts had expected. Illustrating the volatility of the measure, BT said the FRS17 position as of May 16 showed a lower deficit of 5.7 billion pounds.

As for persistent rumours about BT buying back mobile offspring mmO2 OOM.L , Verwaayen repeated his belief in simply buying in services that can be packaged for clients.

"You don't need to own the mobile operator to be able to bundle for your customers," he said. (Additional reporting by William Kemble-Diaz and Alex Clelland)

Broadband and debt make BT a long distance call Questor in The Telegraph

Ben Verwaayen must have been feeling like Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man of late. Just like Laurence Olivier's Nazi dentist, torturing Hoffman over the whereabouts of a stolen jewel stash, the City has had one question for Verwaayen concerning BT's pension fund gap: "Is it safe?"

Yesterday, after much teeth-pulling, the City finally extracted its answer: "It is safe." BT's annual cash contributions to the fund will rise by only 32m to 232m, far less than the 100m increase predicted by analysts. Thank goodness for that, replied the analysts and sent the shares up 3.5 to 188.5p.



It wasn't just the pension fund that pleased investors, underlying profits jumped 44pc, helping the company to pull off a big dividend hike, way ahead of forecasts but still well below the payout you got three years ago. Turnover growth remained sluggish but cost cutting helped earnings to keep racing away.

Questions remain about when the cost cuts will run out of steam and whether BT can get enough growth from new areas like broadband and long contracts with multinationals to counter inevitable decline in its core home phone market. Hungry competitors like Carphone Warehouse are joining the recapitalised cable companies on the edge of its patch.

Also, with all the excess cash BT is generating, Mr Verwaayen could afford to get more aggressive about the dividend policy. Whether he will seems to depend on whether credit rating agency Moody's gives BT back its A credit rating. Such a move would save BT 30m a year in interest payments but don't bet on it changing its stance soon.

All of these doubts are factored into the share price. At this level BT is trading at just 12 times forecast earnings and yielding almost 4pc. Buy for the long term.

Broadband and debt make BT a long distance call | Ups and downs of Man's ascent | Scots & Southern a defensive play



Ups and downs of Man's ascent

Being one of the more mysterious financial beasts around, hedge funds are usually not high on small investors' lists. Hedge funds generally take high-risk bets on financial markets and therefore tend to be volatile investments.

The share price performance of Man Group, the UK's only listed hedge fund manager, is no exception, having fluctuated between 800p and 1400p over the past two years. But the performance of Man Group's businesses, at least by yesterday's full-year results, has been exemplary.

An investment in Man Group shares is not a direct investment in a hedge fund. Man Group makes profits from fees it collects for managing its hedge funds and from its brokerage arm.

Both business streams performed strongly last year. Management fees rose 54pc to 181.1m, and performance fees, which Man charges for good investment performance, rose 108pc to 115m. Man's brokerage business also delivered a 26pc rise in operating profits.

This enabled the business to deliver a 54pc rise in pre-tax profit of 296.9m and a 25pc higher dividend of 23.2p, yielding 2pc. The market liked the result, pushing the shares 6.2pc higher to 11.85.

The good result, however, does not reduce any of the risk involved in buying shares in the company. Man Group's success has come from building up the funds it manages, on which it charges a management fee and, if it performs, a performance fee.

With a greater share of investment capital increasingly moving to hedge funds, Man Group appears well positioned to grow its funds under management (FUM).

But, the FUM growth will be dependent on how well its investments perform. Investors will take their money away if they don't see returns.

Man Group is trading on a multiple of 17 times its prospective, which for a company growing its pace, is probably fair. However, the risks remain high and investors who don't like volatility should think carefully.

May 24, 2003

Whitbread adds internet to clubs
By Dominic Walsh



WHITBREAD, the leisure group behind Travel Inn and TGI Fridays, has signed a deal with BT to install internet caf at its David Lloyd racquets and fitness clubs.
After successful trials at its clubs in Bristol, Renfrew, Newcastle and Solihull, the group has decided to make broadband internet access available free to members of all 54 of its UK David Lloyd sites.

Roger Cunningham, David Lloyds director of IT, said the pilot sites had seen a tremendous response from members, ranging from children doing their homework before tennis classes and students studying after a workout to members looking for holidays.

Stewart Miller, managing director of David Lloyd, said the move was an attempt to increase the chains competitive advantage over its rivals. He said: Its all about giving people more reasons to join our clubs and more reasons to stay with us, which is why our membership retention rates, at 76 per cent, are so far ahead of the industry average.

The introduction of internet caf, which is to be completed by the end of August, comes after the installation of broadband internet access at several of Whitbreads Costa Coffee shops in Central London, again in partnership with BT.

David Lloyd Leisure has more than 310,000 members and claims to teach tennis to 8,000 children a week on its 530 courts. It has only one club outside the UK, in Dublin, but has just started construction on a site in Brussels. At its recent financial results, it indicated that it was seeking a Spanish partner as a first step towards exporting the brand to the Continent.

Whitbreads shares, which have risen from 459p since January on the back of a resilient trading performance, fell by 7p to 621p yesterday.

followers give the thumbs up to its 2002/2003 full year numbers -- which contained positive news on earnings, the dividend, medium-term targets for both cash and debt and its pension deficit, dealers said. Earlier, BT reported a 44% jump in year to March profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items to 1.829 bln stg on increased group turnover of 18.727 bln stg. The profits came in right at the top end of the forecast range. But the real cheer was saved for BT's full year dividend payout -- which was hiked to 6.5 pence a share, well ahead of even the most bullish estimates. And there was positive news too on targets, with BT running well ahead of schedule in meeting 13 out of the 14 targets for both cash generation and net debt set out at the beginning of the year. Net debt at year-end was 9.6 bln stg, down 3.3 bln stg from the prior year.

Brokers were also impressed by BT's more optimistic take on its pension fund -- which has been a real bugbear to the market in recent months.

Merrill Lynch, which repeated its 'buy' advice, said BT's results were strong relative to its expectations, the outcome of the pension review was favourable, and the the dividend was way ahead of its forecast. And it was impressed by BT's free cash flow generation, which came in at an impressive 1.7 bln stg in the year -- well ahead of the broker's own 1.2 bln stg estimate. Merrill Lynch was also upbeat on what it described as the "favourable outcome" to BT's triennial review of the pension fund. It said the actuaries have determined a funding deficit of 2.1 bln stg -- which is below its own forecast of 2.5-3 bln stg. And it was positive on BT's decision to make cash cash payments associated with the pension fund deficit of 232m a year for the next 15 years -- especially as it had expected BT to make a 350m annual payment over just 10 years.

As a result of all of these factors, Merrill Lynch said it is hiking its 2004-2006 EPS forecasts for BT by 2-4 pct, and upping its forecast FCF by 28% in 2004 and 11% in 2005. And, on an even more positive tack, it suggested that BT could "adopt a more aggressive dividend policy " going forward.

Nomura -- a buyer of BT -- also waxed lyrical on the stock's attractions. It too was impressed by the pension news, and the healthy hike in the dividend -- which came in well ahead of its own expectations. And it praised both its revenue growth, which, though not stellar, came in ahead of forecasts.

Nomura, like Merrill Lynch, also suggested that there is room for BT to adopt a more aggressive dividend policy going forward. "We believe BT has delivered both operationally and in respect of the increased dividend. Clarity on the pension funding situation should now ease one of the major concerns dogging the stock. BT is one of the few stocks in the European telecom sector that we consider to be fundamentally undervalued," the broker concluded.

But Goldman Sachs was slightly more sceptical, still rating BT as no more than an 'in-line' at current level. Though it acknowledged that BT's revenue and earnings growth came in well ahead of the market, it was critical of its decision not to change its current dividend policy of raising pay-out to 50% of earnings. "This might be a disappointment to some and we will be looking for comments from the CEO on future plans for excess cash," it said. And it was not that assuaged by BT's pension news, fearing that this issue is likely to continue to rumble in the background.

Business Profile: Broadband Ben S Telegraph
(Filed: 25/05/2003)


BT's boss Ben Verwaayen is pinning his hopes on high-speed internet access and pooh-poohs a 6bn pensions deficit thrown up by the new FRS17 rule. Sophie Barker meets him

Are some peeps cry babies or are they cry babies ...




May 25, 2003

Rivals lash regulator over failure to ban BT's spoiling tactics
Paul Durman S TIMES


NINETEEN telecoms companies, including leading firms such as Cable & Wireless, Centrica and Energis, have made a joint protest to the industry regulator over its failure to stop BTs latest attempts to frustrate the introduction of competition.
The dispute arises from BTs efforts to thwart customers who seek to switch to rival telecoms suppliers.

A technical innovation has recently opened up the market, and is attracting competition from leading retailers such as Tesco, J Sainsbury, Comet and Carphone Warehouse.

The telecoms companies are concerned that Oftel has not prohibited BT from attempting to save customers who have already decided to defect. When BT is notified that customers wish to change supplier, it is free to contact them and try to persuade them to change their minds.

According to its rivals, BT is managing to hold on to about a quarter of the customers who initially opt for a cheaper alternative. This increases customer acquisition costs and consequently cuts profitability in an industry where margins are already wafer thin.

In their joint industry response, the telecoms companies criticise Oftel for its failure to recognise or address the fundamentally anti-competitive nature of save activity by a dominant incumbent and its inappropriateness in an immature CPS (carrier pre-selection) market.

CPS is the regulatory innovation that is allowing customers to switch telecoms suppliers without the need for prefix codes or auto-dialling boxes.

The companies point out that save activity is not permitted in any other European Union country that has introduced CPS.

The full list of signatories includes Colt, Global Crossing, Kingston Communications, McI, NTL, Reach Telecom, Tesco and Thus.

It also includes Broadsystem Ventures (BVL), a company owned by News International, the media group that owns The Sunday Times. BVL provides the Sky Talk service and also runs promotions through The Sun newspaper.

this looks like a cost saver


BT has asked telcom regulator Oftel to set up an industry fund to pay for some of its unprofitable services, reports the Independent on Sunday. It argues that it is time for rival operators to pay for the upkeep of services required under the government's Universal Service Obligation, such as public payphones. Bill Allan, chief executive of Thus, is quoted as saying it's "a good idea" in principle.

130P coming soon I said so over the other place

it happened once and will again

do not say you were not warned

agree rightly...should be their week...my target remains from the overdue breakout at 1.90/2 onwards to 2.20...the opening will be interesting..

mm02 is another to watch in my opinion.

jules.

Any further thoughts on BT.A with this coming Thursday in mind?

looks like BT is breaking down through the 1.80-2.00 trading range. 165-170 good me on the cards if it breaks down.The revenue growth was worse than exopected yesterday,so i think its going down.

Only two per cent down. They are tied by goverment as to how far low they can cut costs because of their hold on the fixed line market, which new companies like Carphone Wharehouse can take advantage off. However if they get their pricing right on Broadband then they will still have a major advantage.
There is a call for them to be treated as a utility, which I do not think is strickly valid. They are well of their highs and increasing dividends and more share buy backs, coupled with strong cash flow and debt repayments make them in my opion,[oversold last week], a very good company medium to long term.

Do you have pics of Buzzby on your wall's mate!!!

Why do want to sell some?

BTA purchased 4,880,000 @ 173.28