Acquisition

BT Group PLC
20 August 2007



DC07-439 - August 20, 2007


                           BT BUYS BASILICA COMPUTING
                          Purchases leading IT company


BT announced today it has acquired Basilica Computing, one of the UK's leading
providers of IT solutions to business.

The acquisition will help enhance the ability of BT to service the IT and
communications needs of the UK's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, said: "Basilica is one of the
best companies in the IT solutions field, meeting the needs of businesses.
Basilica excels at providing IT solutions - designing, configuring and
implementing IT".

"BT's strategy is to free up businesses to do what they do best - running their
business. We will take care of their communications and technology needs. This
acquisition will help us deliver that proposition to our customers and it will
underpin BT's long-term growth in the unified communications sector".

Basilica is a leading IT solutions company, providing design, configuration and
implementation services to its customers.

Its accreditations include: HP Preferred Partner, Cisco Systems Authorised
Reseller, IBM Premier Partner, Microsoft, Symantec and Alteris Gold Partner,
VMware Enterprise Partner, and Citrix Gold Access Partner.

The company employs more than 200 people and generated revenues of £76 million 
for the year ended August 31, 2006. It has its head office in Letchworth Garden 
City, Hertfordshire.

Nick Gorringe, managing director, Basilica, said: "The combination of our
expertise together with BT's brand and BT Business' channels creates a real
powerhouse within the IT services and solutions marketplace. This transaction is
great news for both our customers and employees."

BT Business is a division within BT Retail that focuses entirely on the
communications needs of SMEs in the UK. It is building the necessary IT skills
and capabilities to create and deliver end to end IT solutions from sales to
consulting and project management.

The audited gross assets for Basilica were £20.5 million as at August 31, 2006.

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


Notes to editors


About BT Business


  • BT Business serves and supports more than 1.5 million small and medium
    sized companies across the UK. It provides these companies with voice,
    broadband and IT services enabling them to sell their services to customers
    around the globe.
  • BT Business' revenue as at March 31, 2007 was £2,353 million. This
    represents 27 per cent of BT Retail's revenue.
  • BT Business is the UK's number one business broadband provider with 45
    per cent of the DSL market and has a 40 per cent share of the voice market.


Basilica web site

   •For more information about Basilica visit: www.basilica.co.uk


About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and
services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include networked
IT services; local, national and international telecommunications services;
higher-value broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/
mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business:
BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended March 31, 2007, BT Group plc's revenue was £20,223 million
with profit before taxation of £2,484 million.

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

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





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