Stmnt re BT Wireless

British Telecommunications PLC
5 April 2001




NR0112   April 5, 2001



                   BT WIRELESS INCREASES CUSTOMER BASE WITH


                          STRONG MOBILE DATA GROWTH



  * Equity customers up by 93 per cent following full control of Viag
    Interkom

  * Mobile data customers grow by more than 50 per cent in last quarter

  * Genie records four million registered users

  * BT Cellnet announces pre-pay price increase




BT wireless has grown its equity customer base by 93 per cent (57 per cent
organically) in the last year and further boosted its leading position in the
expanding mobile data market.

     Peter Erskine, chief executive of BT wireless, said: 'Today's
announcement caps a positive year's performance from BT wireless and a strong
quarter. We are committed to a strategy of retaining and growing a high
quality, profitable customer base as well as building on our leading position
in mobile data and next generation services.'

     In the financial year to March 31, 2001, BT wireless added more than 11
million new equity customers and now has around 25 million equity subscribers
in 14 countries. It has also more than doubled the number of customers in
fully controlled operations from 7.4 million a year ago to 16.9 million. In
the quarter there was an increase of 4.2 million equity customers, of which
two million result from the increased stake in Viag Interkom.

     Underlining its strength in next generation services, BT wireless now has
more than three and half million equity customers with mobile data or WAP
services. It also increased the number of mobile data equity customers by more
than 50 per cent in the last quarter.

     BT wireless continues to build on the market-leading work of Genie, BT's
mobile Internet business, which reported four million registered users
internationally at the year end - a 57 per cent increase in the last quarter.
In March, Genie achieved 89 million WAP page impressions in the UK, as well as
63 million web page impressions. Genie has now launched integrated portals in
seven countries.

BT Cellnet

     BT Cellnet, the UK arm of BT wireless, grew its customer base by more
than 50 per cent in the financial year, with its base standing at 11.2 million
at end of March, this year. Its closing base consists of 3.455 million
post-pay customers and 7.707 million pre-pay customers.

     BT Cellnet added 918,000 new customers in the final quarter (Jan - Mar).
For the year, BT Cellnet added 3.758 million new customers.

     At the year end, BT Cellnet has 1.5 million mobile data customers,
accounting for around 13.5 per cent of its total customer base. In the final
quarter of the fiscal year, mobile data customers grew by around 500,000.

     The focus for BT Cellnet going forward will be on customer retention and
development of value added and mobile data services. From May 1, it will raise
the price of its entry pre-pay package to £69.99 in line with this strategy.





Viag Interkom

     In Germany, Viag Interkom's subscriber base continued its rapid growth to
3.72 million customers, an increase of 2.397 million or more than 180 per cent
over 12 months. 550,000 new customers were added in the last quarter and
mobile Internet customers stood at 346,000 at the year end.

Telfort

     In the Netherlands, Telfort grew its customer base to 918,000 at the year
end, an increase of 426,000, or 87 per cent, over 12 months. New customers in
the latest quarter total 61,000.

Esat Digifone

     Esat Digifone of Ireland achieved growth of 68 per cent to the end of the
year, passing the one million customer milestone (1.059 million). Of these
135,000 were mobile data customers. Growth in the last quarter totalled 71,000
new customer connections.

Note to editors

     The customer numbers quoted are from 14 operations internationally where
BT wireless either has outright ownership, a controlling interest or an equity
stake. Equity customer numbers are measured in proportion to the equity stake
in each operation.

BT wireless

BT wireless is an international leader in mobile communications. It is
responsible for the development of all BT's global mobile services and direct
in-country operations, as well as for BT's move into broadband mobile networks
through the introduction of GPRS and third generation (3G) services globally.

BT wireless is one of the new lines of business created by BT last year as
part of the company's major restructuring. It provides management focus for
the company's wholly-owned mobile networks and joint ventures across the globe
and strategic direction for its R&D investment in advanced technology, market
research, product development and vendor partnerships.

                             -------------------





For further information please contact:


Simon Gordon, BT wireless                     + 44 (0) 20 7356 5369


                                              + 44 (0) 7710 070 698

William Ostrom, BT wireless                    + 44 (0) 7802 910000

Carole Williams, BT Cellnet                    + 44 (0) 1753 565656

Simon Matthews/Fiona Campbell

Fishburn Hedges                              + 44 (0) 20 7839 4321

         All BT group news releases can be accessed at our web site:

                      http://www.groupbt.com/mediacentre