Executive Appointment

BT Group PLC
17 November 2003


                                                              November 17, 2003


                            TELEWEST CHIEF JOINS BT


One of the cable industry's top players is to join BT as group managing director
of its consumer and ventures division.

Gavin Patterson currently controls the largest part of Telewest's business as
managing director of its £950 million-turnover consumer division. He will fill
the vacancy left by the departure of Angus Porter from BT to the Abbey a few
months ago. Patterson, aged 36, will start in his new role on January 12.

As group managing director of BT's consumer and ventures division, Patterson
will be in charge of defending the company's fixed-line business in an
increasingly competitive marketplace and driving up sales of BT Broadband and
mobile services. He will also be responsible for setting the direction for BT's
new ventures that aim to generate additional revenue streams, including BT Home
Computing, BT Home Communications and BT Click&Buy.

Patterson will report to BT Retail CEO and plc director Pierre Danon and will
become a member of BT's management council. He has spent the past four years
with Telewest, first as marketing director of the company's telephone and
internet services, moving to become commercial director before taking up his
current post last year.

Prior to Telewest, Patterson worked for Procter and Gamble for nine years,
starting in brand management and rising to become European marketing director
for the company's third largest brand, Pantene. Patterson holds two masters
degrees in chemical engineering from Cambridge University.

Pierre Danon said: "We are delighted to welcome Gavin to our leadership team.
This is a crucial appointment for BT, as we are keen to maintain and build on
our success in competing aggressively in the fixed-line market, growing BT
Broadband numbers and developing our new ventures into strong and profitable
businesses. Gavin has the ability, experience and impressive track-record to
deliver a strong performance from a division which is an important contributor
to the overall success of BT."


Patterson said: "This is fantastic opportunity in a market that is more
competitive than ever. I am relishing the prospect of working for such a great
brand that is moving swiftly to achieve greater success with its traditional
services as well as new-wave areas that help customers get the most from
broadband and other exciting technology.''

                                    - ends -

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About BT

BT Group plc is the listed holding company for an integrated group of businesses
providing voice, data and video services in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
British Telecommunications plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group, holds
virtually all businesses and assets of the BT group.

BT is one of Europe's leading providers of telecommunications services. Its
principal activities include local, national and international
telecommunications services, higher-value broadband and internet products and
services, and IT solutions. In the UK, BT serves over 20 million business and
residential customers with more than 29 million exchange lines, as well as
providing network services to other licensed operators.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:

  • BT Retail, serving businesses and residential customers and including BT
    Openworld, one of the UK's leading ISPs.

  • BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK,
    including ADSL, conveyance, transit, bulk delivery of private circuits,
    frame relay and ISDN connections.

  • BT Global Services, BT's managed services and solutions provider, serving
    multi-site organisations worldwide. Its core target market is the top 10,000
    global multi-site organisations with European operations.



There are a number of other businesses within the BT group, including BT Exact,
an internationally renowned centre of excellence in IT and networking
technologies. It is also BT's technology and research and development business.

In the year ended 31 March 2003, BT's turnover was £18,727m. with profit before
taxation of £1,829m.

For more information, visit www.bt.com




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