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

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.