BT & BSNL PARTNER TO OFFER MANAGED SERVICES in India

BT & BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) today announced that they are partnering to meet growing customer demands on the Indian market. This will enable both companies to provide a full range of managed telecom services, including basic, leased line and local lead services, MPLS VPN services, Internet, mobile and broadband services.
The joint capabilities of the BT / BSNL partnership aim at helping customers improve their business outcomes. By spanning the desktop to the data centre, the joint services will facilitate customer’s provisioning of global converged networks and IT solutions.

Mr. Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman & Managing Director, BSNL, said, “As BSNL transforms into a premier integrated communications service provider, a robust managed service offering is key to our future operations. This partnership has strong synergies and we are looking to draw on BT’s exceptional networked IT expertise & professional services and bring such value-added service offerings that our customers want.”

As part of this partnership, BSNL will provide BT with access to its pan India broadband network as well as seamless access services. The partnership also gives BT a “most preferred customer” status which includes access to value added services as well as a single point of resolution for all queries and fault management services.

In parallel, BSNL will gain access to BT’s global MPLS network and BT’s managed service expertise which includes, for example, network integration, managed security, managed datacenter, hosted CRM/ Contact Center and remote infrastructure management services.

Mr. Sudhir Narang, Managing Director, BT India, said, “The BT BSNL partnership brings together the world-class capabilities of both companies to provide a comprehensive IT and communications service capability in a single service offering. Developing and delivering integrated, seamless solutions for customers, the partnership presents a single point of contact to enterprises for end-to-end service delivery. This provides customers with improved service, increased flexibility and reduced risks. What excites me the most is that this agreement positions the two companies as preferred partners in the management of outsourced IT and network services.”

This partnership will also focus on offering end to end services for large transformational projects and help raise the bar in the networked IT industry.

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About BSNL
BSNL, a Government of India-owned corporation, is the incumbent and largest telecommunications services provider in India with a pan-India footprint but for Delhi and Mumbai. It has a network of over 80 million subscribers covering all towns with over 69 million telephone connections. The corporation is an integrated telecommunications service provider with presence in the fixed line, cellular mobile, long distance and data segments with over 35 million fixed line, 34.5 million cellular mobile and 5 million Internet subscribers including 1.7 million broadband customers. To know more about BSNL, please log on to www.bsnl.co.in

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; 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 31 March 2008, BT Group plc’s revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation and specific items of £2,506 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

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For further information on BT, please contact:

Carson Dalton, Head, Corporate Communication, BT
Mobile: +91-9971079922
Email: carson.dalton {at} bt(.)com