Consumer day release

BT Group PLC
08 December 2005


December 8, 2005


                 BT LEADS THE WAY WITH NEXT-GENERATION SERVICES

BT today announces its plans to introduce a range of next generation services
for customers which will help transform how they communicate, are entertained
and manage their lives.

Already this morning BT has announced it is to offer content from BBC Worldwide,
Paramount and Warner Group with its unique next generation TV services. And, at
the company's Consumer Strategy Day this morning, BT will also promise to
deliver other exciting new broadband and voice services for consumers.

International calls made with the PC to regular landlines are already cheaper
with BT Communicator than with rivals such as Skype. However, as a Christmas
present to its customers, BT will be offering free calls throughout the festive
holiday to any landline in 30 different countries.

Meanwhile, the price of Broadband Talk, which allows customers to use a normal
phone, rather than the PC, has been slashed by up to 50 per cent to just £2 per
month for evening and weekend calls or £7 a month for anytime calls and with BTs
top two Broadband packages, evening and weekend calls are completely free.

BT will also introduce an enhanced voice over internet offering in Spring which
will be available globally and feature BT's new high definition sound quality.
This sound quality will also be available on BT's new video phones - also
available in Spring - which will allow anyone with a BT broadband line to see
their loved ones while they talk.

The broadband heart of the home will be the BT hub. It will enable wireless
networking for all the family's PCs and laptops, next generation TV, voice calls
over the internet, five different voice channels that can be used simultaneously
so all member of the family can be on the phone to their friends at the same
time. It will also enable monitoring services, such as security for the home as
well as greater protection for your valuable data such as your photos and MP3s,
which can be backed up with BT's new online storage and back-up service, Digital
Vault. Additionally, BT will be able to identify problems with your hub
remotely, meaning fewer inconvenient home visits for customers.

Outside the home, BT will be using its leading network of 8,000 Wi-Fi hotspots
in the UK to offer innovative opportunities to work and play, such as the recent
deal with Nintendo allowing gamers to challenge one another via a Wi-Fi link at
BT Openzone hotspots. And BT Fusion, the world's first mobile which uses
broadband to seamlessly change from mobile rates to landline rates at home, will
offer customers a wide range of handsets alongside the Motorola v560 and
forthcoming Razr. In the second half of next year the next generation of Fusion
phones will be Wi-Fi powered which will ensure that customers always stay better
connected at great value rates in even more places.

BT is also reporting financial information this morning. BT Retail expects to
build on last quarter's return to profit growth and deliver increased full year
profits. BT Retail is also aiming to deliver cost savings of £400-500m over
three years by focusing on more cost effective use of online sales, service and
billing as well as improved processes that will benefit BT customers whilst
reducing costs.

Livingston said: "We will make life simpler and better for our customers. Not
only will we be offering them great value communications which enhance their
life, but we will be able to offer individual customers the kinds of services
which are tailored to their needs".

"This is an exciting time for our consumer business but an even more exciting
time to be a BT customer"

Ends


        NOTES TO EDITORS:


Available Now                              Coming Soon

ACCESS IN AND OUT OF HOME SUPPORT

Mobility

Fusion v560

BT Mobile                                  Razr Fusion phone

Wifi                                       Bundle Fusion/Broadband

Work/Games/Talk                            8MB broadband roll-out

Simplified Broadband Portfolio             BT Integrated hub
                                           Wifi phones


BE ENTERTAINED

Gaming

Play Station and Nintendo

Music

i-tunes                                    Next Generation TV

Launchcast

Music Video Streaming

Nintendo DS wifi



COMMUNICATE

Friends & Family Auto-Update

BT Text                                    VoIP

Market-leading VoIP international rates     • Single service
                                            • Free Christmas international calls
Privacy                                     • Free calls with VoIP to Broadband 
                                              Option 3 and 4 customers

                                           Video Phone l

                                           Hi-definition sound



MANAGE LIFE

Email address guard                        Identity Protection

Anti-spam                                  BT Protect - one-stop shop security 
                                           package

Virus guard                                Digital Vault - back-up all key 
                                           digital assets

PC Firewall                                Digital Vault Plus

Digital Storage

Home Security

Car Security



For more information:

Giles Deards/Michael Jarvis, BT Group Newsroom        020 7356 6045

Inquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on its
24 hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK, dial [phone]. All
BT Group news releases can be accessed at our web site: www.bt.com/newscentre

Ends



About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving
customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities
include networked IT services, local, national and international
telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products
and services.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:
     
•    BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and related
     services to more than 20 million UK consumers and businesses.

•    BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to
     more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including 
     the provision of broadband and private circuits.

•    BT Global Services, providing networked IT services to meet the needs of
     multi-site organisations globally. BT Global Services operates in more than 
     130 countries and also offers international carrier services.

From January 2006, there will be a fourth business called Openreach. This
business will be responsible for the nationwide local BT network which covers
the "first mile" of wires that connects homes and businesses across the UK to
their service providers. Openreach will provide communications providers with
services and products associated with that network.

In the year ended 31 March 2005, BT Group's turnover was £18,623 million with
profit before taxation of £2,354 million.

BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. British
Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and
encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt

A wide selection of BT images are available for download via the image library
at www.vismedia.co.uk.

Forward-looking statements - caution advised

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking and are made in reliance
on the safe harbour provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. These statements include, without limitation, those concerning:
expectations regarding cost savings; and delivery of new products and services.

Although BT believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will
prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and
uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied by these forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause differences between actual results and those implied by
the forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: material adverse
changes in economic conditions in the markets served by BT; future regulatory
actions and conditions in BT's operating areas, including competition from
others; selection by BT and its lines of business of the appropriate trading and
marketing models for its products and services; delivery of BT's 21st Century
Network; technological innovations, including the cost of developing new
products, networks and solutions and the need to increase expenditures for
improving the quality of service; prolonged adverse weather conditions resulting
in a material increase in overtime, staff or other costs; developments in the
convergence of technologies; and the anticipated benefits and advantages of new
technologies, products and services, including broadband and other new wave
initiatives, not being realised. BT undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange END

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