BTwireless appointments

British Telecommunications PLC
9 July 2001

                                                                   8 July 2001


    BTWIRELESS NAMES ANDREW SUKAWATY AS DEPUTY CHAIRMAN AND PAUL MYNERS AS
                            NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BTwireless today announces the appointment of Andrew Sukawaty as Deputy
Chairman and Paul Myners as Non-Executive Director. They will join David
Varney, Chairman, Peter Erskine, Chief Executive Officer and David Finch,
Chief Financial Officer on the board of BTwireless.

Andrew Sukawaty, 46, is currently Partner and President of Callahan
Associates, which operates cable television and broadband businesses
worldwide. Andrew has an exceptional track record in the wireless
communications sector and has been a leading light in the mobile phone and
paging industries since their inception. Before moving to Callahan Associates,
Andrew was Chief Executive and President of Sprint PCS, the largest Personal
Communications Services operator in the US. There he led a team to make Sprint
PCS the fastest growing wireless provider in the United States. Andrew was
also CEO of NTL and COO of Mercury One2One where he launched the world's first
digital PCS company.

Paul Myners, 53, is Chairman of Gartmore Investment Management, the company
which he first joined in 1985 as Chief Executive. He recently completed a
Review of Institutional Investment for HM Treasury. Paul is Chairman of the
Guardian Media Group, and non-executive Deputy Chairman of PowerGen. He is a
City Disputes panellist, a member of the Financial Reporting Council and
Chairman of the Lloyd's of London Investment Committee. Previous non-executive
directorships that he has held include Celltech and Orange.

They will both take up their roles on the BTwireless board in late summer, in
preparation for the demerger of BTwireless later in the year.

David Varney, recently appointed Chairman-designate of BTwireless said: 'The
appointments of Andrew and Paul bring significant strength to add to the
Board. Their breadth of experience will prove invaluable as we move towards
the demerger and our independent life beyond.'

Peter Erskine, Chief Executive of BTwireless added: 'Andrew Sukawaty and Paul
Myners join us at a critical point in BTwireless' evolution and bring vital
skills to our Board. They will help the group prepare for the demerger and
drive forward our strategy to be a leader in wireless communications and in
the mobile data market.'

Andrew Sukawaty

Andrew Sukawaty, 46, is currently Partner and President of Callahan
Associates, which operates cable television and broadband businesses
worldwide. Prior to this role he was Chief Executive and President of Sprint
PCS, the largest Personal Communications Services operator in the US. There he
directed a team that made Sprint PCS the fastest growing wireless provider in
the United States. He was instrumental in its growth from a business with a
market capitalisation of US $2 billion to a business of over US $50 billion.
He is also the former Chairman of the CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industry
Association) and is currently on the board of Powerwave Technologies Inc. He
has held leadership positions in NTL Limited where he was CEO; One-2-One,
where as COO he launched the world's first digital PCS company; Coastal (a U S
West Cellular joint venture), US West Cellular, and AT&T. He is a graduate of
the University of Wisconsin and has an MBA from the University of Minnesota.

Paul Myners

Paul Myners, 53, is Chairman of Gartmore Investment Management. He first
joined Gartmore Investment Management in 1985 as Chairman and Chief Executive
when it was a small company with less than US $2billion in assets and was
instrumental in its growth to one of the most successful UK pension fund
businesses with assets of over £40 billion. He then took up the role of CEO of
Natwest Wealth Management before rejoining Gartmore once again as CEO in 1999
to steer the company through its sale by Natwest to Nationwide. He recently
completed a Review of Institutional Investment for HM Treasury. Paul is
Chairman of the Guardian Media Group, and non-executive Deputy Chairman of
PowerGen. He is a City Disputes panellist, a member of the Financial Reporting
Council and Chairman of the Lloyd's of London Investment Committee.

He has previously held directorships at the Investment Management Regulatory
Organisation, the Lloyds Market Board, Celltech, the Scottish National Trust,
Orange and the Association of Investment Trust Companies where he was
Chairman.

BTwireless

BTwireless has a European footprint of cohesive wholly owned operations in the
UK (BT Cellnet), Germany (Viag Interkom), The Netherlands (Telfort), the
Republic of Ireland (Esat Digifone) and the Isle of Man (Manx Telecom).
BTwireless also includes Genie, which is one of Europe's leading mobile
Internet portals. BTwireless owns third generation licenses to operate 3G
mobile services in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands - all territories where
it has already launched GPRS services. We expect to apply for a 3G license in
Ireland where the application process is expected to commence shortly.

BT announced on May 10 that it intends to demerge BTwireless before the end of
this year.

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