British Telecom To Slash Overseas Call Rates From February 19

British Telecommunications Plc said on Tuesday that it would make further cuts in the cost of many international telephone calls including those to India effective from February 19.

BT said in a statement that the latest cuts, which will cover calls to 33 countries, accounting for 60 per cent of all BT international calls, will mean it has cut the cost of international calls by almost 170 million in five months.

BT said it will cut 10 per cent off call charges to India during the week.

Other reductions include 20 per cent off all calls to the United States, Canada and Mexico, 20 per cent off daytime calls to Germany and France, with 10 per cent reductions to evening, night time and weekend prices.

It will also cut 10 per cent off all calls to Australia and New Zealand and up to 20 per cent off calls to Nigeria.

BT chief executive Peter Bonfield, said in the statement, In all we have saved customers more than 1.5 billion since August, 1993 and there is more to come in the months and years ahead.

The latest cuts follow BTs decision in September to introduce a new cheaper weekend rate for all international calls. In October, the telecommunications giant also reduced the cost of calls to many countries and cut the cost of longer distance UK calls.

The announcement saw shares in British Telecommunications rallying to their highest level since September 1995. At 0851 GMT yesterday, the shares were up 7p to 412-1/2p.

Trading volume was 1.62 million shares, making the shares the most actively traded in London.

Some attributed the rally to a technical breakout in the share price.

They noted that the shares have risen above their two-year range, which portends a further advance.

SocGen analyst John Tysoe said he believes the stocks appreciation was not tied to price cuts or to technical factors.

If you wanted to attach a more rational reason (for the rally), youd have to say that the penny has finally dropped.

European deregulation is less than a year away and theres only one company thats prepared to exploit that market and thats BT, said Tysoe, who repeated his buy recommendation on the stock yesterday morning.

UBS also reiterated its buy recommendation, dealers said.