Customer satisfaction is our number one priority, because that's the right way to do business and because it's the key to profitable growth.

We have three kinds of customers - residential, business (from small and medium enterprises to major government departments and multinationals) and wholesale.

And our core business is to delight all of them.

We are passionate about providing them with an unparalleled customer experience and excellent service.

Whether they want basic telephony or complex communications solutions, voice calls or internet connections, fixed or mobile connections, national or international communications, we aim to provide what they want at the right price.

And we can only do this if we understand their priorities and their views of the world.

Which means listening to them.

Although we have run one of the largest customer research programmes in the UK for a number of years, at the end of March we kicked off a census of 19 million residential customers.

The first four million questionnaires went out in March and the survey is also available online.

Customers are asked how satisfied they are with our customer service, in what ways they would like us to change, and their expectations of the future, particularly of the internet and broadband.

And in May 2001, we launched a monthly tracking survey of our major business customers. In the first 11 months of the survey, BT outperformed the competition nine times in relation to customer satisfaction.

Increasingly, in the residential market, we are focused on offering integrated communications packages that align with people's lifestyles.

The innovative BT Together pricing package, for example, which offers reduced rate calls and other benefits for a fixed monthly fee, was enhanced during the year to include the option of unlimited UK off-peak calls. And an option including unmetered off-peak internet calls was also introduced.

As at 31 March 2002, approximately 71% of all residential customer call minutes were made by subscribers to fixed-fee packages - a constant reminder of the value for money that we offer.

We continue to develop channels that make it easier for customers to deal with us. For example, we are creating a number of multi-functional contact centres; www.bt.com, our e-commerce channel, enables customers to access information and services, and check or pay their bills online;¹ and the new, clearer bill makes it much easier for customers to see what they are spending and what they are getting for their money.

In the developing wholesale market, we sell to other licensed operators and service providers who are looking for customised communications solutions - from private circuits to international functionality, from e-business to network facilities management - that they can sell to their customers, and that will give them a competitive edge in their markets.

Quite literally, their success is our success.

They've stressed the importance of ease of communication with us and, in response, for example, we've developed the Broadband Service Provider gateway, which enables service providers to link directly to our systems. Now they can enter or check the progress of orders online, simplifying and speeding up the entire process.

In the major business market too, we're committed to working in partnership with our customers, to help them realise the strategic value of communications and get the most from the services we provide.

footnote
¹ www.bt.com is one of the largest sites of its kind in the UK, with 2.5 million registered users at 31 March 2002. In 2002, orders worth more than £71 million were made or initiated through the site.