LONDON; Feb. 2, 2005 – BT and Accenture have signed a 10-year, $575 million business process outsourcing (BPO) and transformation contract for human resource (HR) administration services. The contract significantly expands the geographic reach of services that Accenture has been providing to BT under a previous five-year contract.

The new contract is one of the largest renewals of an HR BPO contract in the world. It is designed to provide BT with higher levels of workforce management and performance services in 38 countries around the globe, along with further cost savings in addition to those already realized under the current contract. The services will continue to be delivered through Accenture HR Services, an Accenture business that provides people management services on an outsourced basis, via its global delivery network.

Accenture currently provides HR services to BT’s 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners in the United Kingdom. Under the new contract, Accenture will provide services to those BT employees and pensioners, as well as to another 10,000 BT employees in 37 countries around the world who were not covered in the previous contract.

The services to be provided under the new contract include customer contact/call center, recruitment, pension administration, payroll and benefits administration, performance management administration, health and safety, and HR advisory and information services.

The new contract will take effect August 1, 2005. It will be preceded by a jointly developed transition program to define the service delivery framework and develop new ways of working to ensure a consistent and standardized service for BT employees globally.

Alex Wilson, BT group human resource director, said: "Accenture HR Services has a proven track record of consistently high quality service and a true partnership approach. These were key factors in its selection, along with its unmatched ability to deliver HR services on a global basis. This agreement will allow our staff to concentrate even more on the strategic role of HR management to our growing global business."

David Clinton, president of Accenture HR Services, said: "BT’s bold decision in August 2000 to undertake large-scale HR outsourcing has been validated with this new agreement. This is a tremendous vote of confidence in the industry, in the business value of outsourcing, and in Accenture’s ability to deliver a consistent level of global support to multinational clients aiming to achieve high performance in their businesses."

About BT

BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include IT and networking services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:

BT Retail, providing fixed and mobile communications services and solutions and IT and networking services to more than 20 million business and residential customers in the UK. It is also a leading UK internet services provider.

BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including the provision of broadband private circuits.

BT Global Services, providing IT and networking services internationally to meet the needs of multi-site organisations with European operations. BT Global Services operates in more than 130 countries and also offers international carrier services.

In the year ended 31 March 2004, BT Group’s turnover was £18,519 million with profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxation of £2,013 million.

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

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

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 100,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$13.67 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2004. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Accenture

Accenture HR Services, an Accenture business, provides people-management services to enterprises on an outsourced basis. Employing advanced technology and best-of-breed human resources practices, Accenture HR Services works in close collaboration with its clients to accommodate the unique needs and characteristics of their business operations and people. In this way, Accenture HR Services enables organizations to concentrate on optimizing their core business activities while reducing their cost and realizing the greatest possible value from all of their assets.

Its home page is www.accenture.com/hrservices.