LONDON, March 31 /PRNewswire/ --

- One.Tel, one of BT's biggest home phone competitors, unveils low cost line rental, offering further savings for switchers

One.Tel, one of BT's biggest competitors, today took advantage of the long-awaited dismantling of BT's line rental monopoly, by launching a home phone service that includes both line rental and call charges for the first time. An independent study(x) forecasts that this move, and future activity by BT's other rivals, could see BT's stranglehold on the residential fixed line market slashed by more than half over the next decade, from 82% to 45%.

Approximately 93% of UK households have a fixed telephone line, with 82% of these supplied by BT(x). The independent study(x) forecasts that the current GBP7.3bn household fixed telephony market will grow steadily to GBP8.4bn by 2015, but that BT's grip on the market will slip significantly, as line rental competition and call savings prompt a new wave of switching.

Ian El Mokadem, One.Tel's Managing Director, commented: "It's over 20 years since BT's monopoly was supposedly broken, and this is another step towards achieving a level playing field in home telephony. As one of BT's biggest rivals we intend to take full advantage of this line rental revolution, by offering those switching away from BT even bigger savings and the convenience of a single bill. One.Tel has been at the forefront of industry line rental trials and I'm delighted we've now reached a point where we can confidently offer people a full break away from BT."

Switching providers is easy, the end-to-end process taking approximately 10 days and can be done via the telephone or internet. Independent analysis estimates switching to an alternative supplier from BT could save the average household between GBP70 and GBP90, a potential collective saving of GBP632 million in the UK(x).

Key benefits of One.Tel Line Rental include: - Only GBP9.99 per month (versus BT @ GBP10.50) - No longer have to pay BT for Line Rental - Removes need to pay two bills (one to BT for line rental and one to One.Tel for calls)

El Mokadem concludes: "Today marks a watershed for the home phone market, and we're confident that millions of BT's customers will soon be looking to switch, now that they can finally compare apples with apples."

Journalists who require further information on the deregulation of the Wholesale Line Rental market should visit <http://bh.edm.onetel.com/linerental/>

Notes to editors (x) Report produced by independent research agency, Research Analysis and Knowledge Management, March 2005.

About One.Tel

One.Tel is one of the UK's leading communications companies, providing 1.75 million fixed line, mobile and Internet services to customers. One.Tel is famous for its low cost call rates both at home and abroad and is an Internet Service Provider, offering flat fee and per minute narrowband connection and broadband services.

Centrica acquired One.Tel UK in July 2001. Centrica also operates under three other brands in the UK - British Gas, Scottish Gas, and Dyno.

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For further information: One.Tel Press Office, Carol Barnes, +44-(0)7766-707-059 / +44-(0)20-7181-7273, +44-(0)20-7294-3694, carol.barnes@centrica.co.uk; Fiona Jennings, +44-(0)7769-847-460 / +44-(0)20-7181-787, fiona.jennings@onetel.co.uk; Contact researcher, Paul Hersey, on +44-(0)1737-216-940.