Re Alliance

Eckoh Technologies PLC
14 November 2002


                                                             14 November 2002

                   Eckoh Technologies and BT create Exclusive

                        Speech Recognition Alliance

•        BT appoint Eckoh Technologies as their exclusive provider of hosted
         speech recognition services to BT customers

•        2-year agreement with services commencing in January 2003

•        BT will fully fund the creation of a dedicated hosting and technical
         operation for the exclusive use of the alliance

Eckoh Technologies plc ("Eckoh"), one of Europe's leading speech application
service providers, and BT, one of the world's leading suppliers of
telecommunications services, today announced the formation of an exclusive
alliance to provide BT's customers with advanced speech recognition technology.

The agreement, which commences in January 2003, provides BT with a range of
products developed by Eckoh to target UK companies and those generating English
language business originating in Europe, in sectors such as government, finance,
utilities, retail, IT and travel and leisure.

The alliance, funded by BT, will provide a dedicated, managed service
infrastructure installed in a BT facility and operated by Eckoh. BT will be
responsible for marketing and selling to its customers the hosted speech
recognition solutions that will be designed and built by a technical development
team provided by both parties.

Eckoh will also be extending its own managed service infrastructure with BT in
the same period, as the first phase of increasing its call processing capacity
from the existing level of 4,500 ports to 8,000. This creates one of the largest
self-service call processing platforms worldwide and will provide the new
partnership with sufficient overflow capacity to meet expected demand for
service.

Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer of Eckoh Technologies, commented:

"This alliance with BT has the potential to catapult Eckoh's Speech Solutions
division onto a much higher level in terms of customer base, product acceptance,
market perception and most significantly, revenues. BT will now be able to sell
its broad range of large corporate customers hosted speech recognition
solutions, which are developed and managed exclusively by Eckoh. It is a deal
with no associated costs to Eckoh but with hugely exciting potential."


Neil Rogers, President, BT Ignite Solutions, said:

"BT is a strong advocate for speech recognition and believes the market will
grow dramatically in the next three years, and in fact are already experiencing
strong demand from existing customers. It is important that we are able to
provide the best products and services to our clients through a hosted option
and as the clear leaders in this field Eckoh were the natural choice for BT. Our
alliance with Eckoh will deliver sophisticated client handling solutions and a
broader range of self-service options for our customers."

For further enquiries, please contact

Eckoh Technologies plc                               Tel: [phone]
Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer
Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer

Buchanan Communications                              Tel: [phone]
Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia


For further information on BT, please contact

Band & Brown Communications                          Tel: [phone]
Josephine Bowen/Laura Lynne



Notes to Editors:

About Eckoh Technologies plc

Eckoh Technologies plc provides a complete managed service for large
corporations and organisations using Advanced IVR (interactive voice response)
and Speech Recognition technologies.  It has secured contracts to supply hosted
services to Virgin Mobile, Centrica, Static and the RNIB, and owns the largest
Speech-enabled call-processing platform in Europe.

Eckoh also operates the following businesses:

•        IVR - Eckoh is one of the largest providers of IVR services in the UK,
         with the capacity to process over 250,000 calls per hour

•        Network Services - under the "Symphony Telecom" brand, Eckoh supplies
         fixed line and mobile telephony services to over 6,000 businesses in 
         the UK and Ireland

•        Mobile Wholesale - under the "Phones Express" brand, Eckoh supplies
         mobile telephone handsets and airtime packages to consumers in print 
         and on television, and is one of the largest independent distributors 
         in the UK

In the year to 31 March 2002, Eckoh generated turnover of £54.9m.

To hear a demonstration of Eckoh Technologies' product range, please dial 08701
100 600.  Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com or contact us by
dialling 08701 100 200.

About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of telecommunications services and
one of the largest private sector companies in Europe. Its principal activities
include local, long distance and international telecommunications services,
Internet and broadband services and IT solutions. In the UK, BT serves more than
28 million exchange lines as well as providing network services to other
licensed operators.



BT Group consists of:



•        BT Retail, the UK's largest communications service provider and the
         prime channel to market for BT's other businesses;

•        BT Wholesale, the provider of network services and solutions to
         communications companies, network operators and service providers;

•        BT Ignite, BT's business services and solutions business, serving
         customers worldwide; and

•        BT Openworld, a mass-market narrow and broadband Internet business.



Further businesses make up BT Group, including BTexact Technologies, the
internationally renowned advanced research and technology business.



In the year to March 31, 2002, BT's group turnover was £18,447m with profit
before taxation of £1,273m.  For more information, visit www.btplc.com.


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