Appointment of CEO-BT Retail

British Telecommunications PLC
22 September 2000

                              



                   CEO NAMED FOR BT RETAIL

BT today announced the appointment of Pierre Danon,

currently president of Xerox Europe, as the first chief

executive officer of the company's new, UK-based  BT Retail

division.

            With an MBA, engineering and law degrees, he has

wide-ranging international expertise gained as an executive

working for Xerox in Europe and the United States of

America, with experience in finance, sales, marketing,

customer service and research and development.

          In April this year, BT announced a major

restructuring to position the company ahead of the next wave

in communications. This includes a radical separation of its

UK fixed business into wholesale and retail, facilitating

more focussed management and greater clarity in regulation.

           The new retail business will operate as a

separate line of business, with £10 billion of revenue and

more than 24 million consumer, corporate and government

customers.

           It will continue to provide account-managed and

packaged solutions, allowing customers to benefit from the

full range of BT products, including mobile and e-commerce

services. Increasingly, it will service its customers using

e-business technologies and channels.

          M. Danon, 44, who will report to BT's chief

executive, Sir Peter Bonfield, will be a member of  BT's

group executive committee. He joins the company on 

October 4.

           Sir Peter Bonfield said:'I am delighted that

Pierre is joining us at this exciting time in BT's

transformation. His educational and executive background

bring to BT's business an outstanding mix of operational

and change management experience across a range of

disciplines in a very competitive market place.'

          Pierre Danon is a member of the Xerox worldwide

strategy committee and is based currently in the UK, driving

Xerox's transformation in Europe as a networking, services,

solutions business, employing 19,000 people.

          He said: 'This is an exciting time for me to be

joining BT.  It is a company with a strong brand, reputation

and heritage operating in one of most dynamic sectors in the

world, and I am looking forward enormously to the challenges

that lie ahead.'