BT Positioned in the "Leaders" Quadrant of the 2011 Magic Quadrants for Pan-European and Global Network Service Providers

LONDON, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BT (NYSE: BT), one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services, today announced that Gartner, Inc., positioned BT Global Services in the "Leaders" quadrant of the 2011 Magic Quadrants for Pan-European and Global Network Service Providers.

Jeff Kelly, CEO BT Global Services, said: "I'm pleased to see BT placed as a leader in these key Quadrants. Our ambition is to be the industry's best in partnering with customers as they exploit the tremendous opportunities our technology and expertise present to them. Our customers recognize our core strengths, in offering a broad portfolio of managed service options and our strong focus on key vertical sectors including financial services, consumer packaged goods, government and healthcare, and global commerce. Today's placement comes as we are in the process of making substantial improvements to our network across the world, to make sure we're where our customers need us to be, with network, solutions and BT people to support them. These efforts are valued by our customers."

BT Global Services, part of BT Group plc, provides managed networked IT services for business and government organizations. We operate globally and deliver locally to the world's large multinational corporations. BT Global Service's key assets include a global, all-IP network, data centers, solution design and integration professionals and IT security experts. This combination of network, IT and professional services allows BT Global Services to bring together managed solutions that help our customers' people to be more productive, their customers to be better served and their organizations to operate more efficiently.

In its Global Network Service Providers (NSP) report, Gartner defines leaders as companies that "have a full portfolio of voice and data products, coupled with above-average service and support, wide global coverage and competitive pricing. They have a strong vision that includes adopting more information and communication technology (ICT) capacity which is a strategy they articulate clearly and openly."

In its Pan-European Network Service Provider (NSP) report, Gartner says leaders "have a full portfolio of voice and data services, including relatively new offerings in areas such as unified communications and Ethernet services. These services are delivered with good quality across a wide area of coverage at competitive prices by account teams that are typically closer to the customer. Leaders have a strong vision of the market and their role in it, and they will typically be able to address a wider range of customers (in terms of size, geography and service requirements) with their service offerings than others in this Magic Quadrant."

* Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for Global Network Service Providers, Neil Rickard, Robert F. Mason, March 31, 2011.

**Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for Pan-European Network Service Providers, Neil Rickard, Katja Ruud, March 31, 2011.

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrants are copyrighted 2011 by Gartner, Inc. and are reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in more than 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 2010, BT Group's revenue was 20,911 million pounds Sterling.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc 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.

SOURCE BT Americas