Chairman's
introduction

The world looks a very different place than it did a year ago. Global trade has contracted for the first time in many decades. Financial markets have been in turmoil and trading conditions worldwide remain extremely challenging. Against this background, the importance of defending free trade and fighting for regulation that promotes investment and encourages competition has never been greater.

Three out of our four principal divisions (BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach) are delivering well. Management�s highest attention is now directed towards returning BT Global Services, our one under performing division, to profitable growth.

Of course the current downturn will end, and I am confident that BT will emerge from the recession a stronger company. We have in place a management team that not only understands the challenges we face, but also sees the opportunities that lie ahead for our business.

So we are continuing to innovate and look for opportunities to grow. This issue of Forward looks at some of the exciting things that we are doing.

Super-fast broadband promises to change all of our lives. Read more

Read about our plans to bring broadband speeds many times faster than currently available within the reach of 10 million UK homes by 2012.

Delivering excellent customer service is vital and so I am delighted to say that we continue to see improvements right across our business. For example, at Openreach, customer service is now at its best ever level and our engineers have played an important part in this success. You can read about an engineer�s typical working day Read more

We explain the vision for our main research and development (R&D) centre at Adastral Park. The development of the park will deliver a regenerated R&D facility and a new residential community, including educational and social facilities. Our plans will ensure that the park will continue to lead the way in communications technology and innovation long into the future. Read more

We are committed to being a responsible and sustainable company and to having a positive impact on society. Our Wind for Change project is the UK�s biggest corporate green energy project outside of the energy sector. Read more We explain how we plan to generate 25 per cent of our current energy needs from wind power.

You can read about our customised portable personal computers that are giving disabled students a voice. And as official communications services partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games we are encouraging our employees to get involved in volunteering in their local communities. Read more

BT Conferencing is a real success story and is now the world�s biggest provider of video conferencing. We show how conferencing can save time and money, as well as protecting the environment. Read more

For these reasons and for many others I am very confident about the future for our business, our employees, our customers and for you, our shareholders

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