BT wireless Chairman

British Telecommunications PLC
13 June 2001

                                    June 13, 2001



                   DAVID VARNEY TO BECOME FIRST CHAIRMAN OF

                                 BT WIRELESS

BT today announced the appointment of David Varney to be Chairman of BT
wireless on its planned demerger from the BT Group later this year.

David Varney will become Chairman-designate later this month and will work
with BT management and Peter Erskine, chief executive officer of BT wireless,
in the run-up to the demerger.

David Varney has a strong track record of leading businesses that have
improved their performance on a sustained basis. A skilled leader of
organisational change, he has experience in both UK and overseas markets
gained during his four years as chief executive of the BG Group and, prior to
that, in a variety of senior roles at Shell.

He left BG plc in 2000 having steered the Group to a successful demerger and
put in place a strong management team for each of the two new companies, BG
Group plc and the Lattice Group plc.

David Varney said: 'The stakes are high in the mobile market. Establishing the
new BT wireless company and building on its business success are challenges
that I relish.

'The demerged BT wireless needs to be a flexible, nimble organisation alert to
the opportunities in its marketplace. Its focused and accountable management
team, led by Peter Erskine, will concentrate on growing shareholder value. I
look forward to working with Peter and his colleagues as we drive forward the
creation of a new, major FTSE 100 company.'

Peter Erskine said: 'I am delighted that David Varney is to be BT wireless'
Chairman. We are determined to be a leader in the European mobile data market
and are aggressively pursuing all commercial options to this end. I welcome
the inputs that David Varney will undoubtedly provide at this critical and
exciting time.'

BT wireless

BT wireless has a major European footprint with wholly owned operations in the
UK (BT Cellnet), Germany (Viag Interkom), The Netherlands (Telfort), Isle of
Man (Manx Telecom) and the Republic of Ireland (Esat Digifone). BT wireless
also includes Genie, which is one of Europe's leading mobile Internet portals.
BT wireless owns third generation licences to operate 3G mobile services in
the UK, Germany and The Netherlands - all territories where it has already
launched GPRS services.

BT announced on May 10 that it intends to de-merge BT wireless before the end
of this year.

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