Re Directorate

British Telecommunications PLC
31 October 2001





NR 0169 October 31, 2001



                 SIR PETER BONFIELD TO STAND DOWN IN JANUARY

Sir Peter Bonfield today announced that he has agreed with the Board of BT
that he will stand down as Chief Executive of BT Group plc at the end of
January 2002.

     Sir Peter said: 'This is the right time to announce a change. We have
almost completed the very radical transformation programme which we started
last year. A string of profitable and timely disposals, coupled with a
successful rights issue, have helped us to reduce debt ahead of schedule. We
have established the new BT Group which will have a slim headquarters and
autonomous lines of business. mmO2 will be demerged shortly. The new BT Group
is well positioned for the future.

     'I would like to thank all the great BT people who have supported me so
strongly through six action-packed years. We have had our successes and have
had our share of disappointments but we have seen some amazing changes in our
industry and completed significant changes in BT.



'I plan to stay involved in the technology-related business but with a broader
portfolio of international interests.'

Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of BT, said: 'Peter's contribution to BT
has been enormous during his six years as its CEO.

'I am particularly grateful for the help he has given me personally, and for
the energetic and effective way in which he has implemented the major
programme of change during the six months I have worked with him. He leaves
with our best wishes for the future.

'We have begun to look for a successor to Sir Peter and this appointment
will be announced in due course.'

Note to editors:

Sir Peter Bonfield joined BT at the beginning of 1996. He has overseen the
most radical transformation of BT since privatisation and achieved all the
objectives announced earlier in the year.

  * Yell, the directories business, was sold for more than £2 billion.
  * The £4.8bn total raised by the sale of assets in Japan and Spain
    represented returns respectively of more than three times and more than
    five times the original investments.
  * A £5.9bn rights issue, the largest in Europe, was successfully completed
    in June.
  * mmO2 ( BT Wireless) is on track to be demerged later this month
  * The new BT Group plc with a slimmed down HQ and autonomous lines of
    business will be established later this month

Measured over a five-year period to August this year (prior to the September
11 tragedy), BT's total shareholder return ranked 36th out of the FTSE 100
companies. An investment of £1,000 in BT during the first six months of Sir
Peter's tenure would, therefore, today be worth about £2,000 if all dividend
and special dividend payments had been reinvested in BT shares.



Remuneration

Sir Peter Bonfield is entitled to one year's notice under the terms of his
contract, like other members of the BT Executive Committee. He will therefore
be paid one year's salary (£820,000) from February 1, 2002, one year's
on-target bonus (£615,000), plus the value of other benefits such as car,
health insurance etc (£50,000).

He will be credited with one additional year of pensionable service. His
executive share awards will be preserved: at BT's October 30 closing share
price they are worth £290,000 but are paid out over the next three years and
depend on company performance against the FTSE 100 during that period. Sir
Peter also has deferred bonus plan awards totalling 296,084 shares receivable
over the next three years.

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