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

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.