BF B A S F A G

BT to Provide MPLS-Based WAN Platform NEW YORK, March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BT announced today that BT Americas Inc. has entered into a three-year, multi-million dollar managed services agreement with BASF Corporation (NYSE:BF), the world's largest chemical company, to deliver and manage a wide area network (WAN) service infrastructure for its North American region (United States, Canada and Mexico). Under the terms of the contract, BT will transform BASF's existing WAN environment to a state-of-the-art, Internet Protocol (IP)-based network to support BASF's expanding business. BT's Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) infrastructure solution will provide a flexible and secure communications platform that will enable BASF to prioritize different types of traffic according to importance or need and reduce its total cost of ownership. BT won the contract against strong competition. Important factors in the decision were BT's technical expertise and experience supporting BASF's European requirements as well as its extensive support and network infrastructure in North America. Once implementation is complete, BT's Global MPLS network will connect BASF sites in more than 40 countries across North America, Latin America and Europe. Chuck Pol, President, BT Americas, commented, "We're pleased to be able to provide BASF with the right solutions for its business. Today's announcement further underpins BT's commitment to being an innovator focused on meeting the needs of global businesses in the Americas." "BT is committed to providing multinational businesses the managed networked solutions they require to be competitive in the Digital Networked Economy," added Pol. "We are delighted to have been selected by BASF to provide managed network services to its sites in North America and beyond." 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, and higher-value broadband and Internet 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 2006, BT Group plc's revenue was sterling 19,514 million with profit before taxation of sterling 2,040 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 http://www.bt.com/aboutbt All BT news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.bt.com/newscentre. About BASF Corporation BASF Corporation, headquartered in New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF employs more than 15,500 in North America and had sales of approximately $14.3 billion in 2006. For more information about BASF's North American operations, or to sign up to receive news releases by e-mail, visit http://www.basf.com/usa. BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and natural gas. As a reliable partner to virtually all industries, BASF's high-value products and intelligent system solutions help its customers to be more successful. BASF develops new technologies and uses them to meet the challenges of the future and open up additional market opportunities. It combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility, thus contributing to a better future. BASF has over 95,000 employees and posted sales of euro 52.6 billion (approximately $66.1 billion) in 2006. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at http://www.basf.com/. DATASOURCE: BT CONTACT: Eileen Connolly, +1-908-410-1419, , or Barbara Cattolica, +1-415-309-2485, , both for BT Web site: http://www.btplc.com/ http://www.bt.com/aboutbt http://www.bt.com/newscentre http://www.basf.com/usa http://www.basf.com/

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