Re Joint Venture

RNS Number:0591T
Eckoh Technologies PLC
10 December 2003

                                                                10 December 2003


                    Eckoh Technologies and BT extend their
                 Speech Recognition Alliance to December 2006


Eckoh Technologies plc ("Eckoh"), one of Europe's leading speech application
service providers, and BT, one of the world's leading suppliers of
telecommunications services, today announced that they are extending their
alliance to provide BT's customers with advanced speech recognition technology.

The original 2-year agreement, which commenced in January 2003, provides BT with
a range of products developed by Eckoh to target companies in sectors such as
government, finance, utilities, retail, IT and travel and leisure.  The Alliance
provides a dedicated, managed service infrastructure operated by Eckoh and
installed in a BT facility, which is one of the largest self-service call
processing platforms worldwide.

In September 2003 the companies announced a 2-year contract with TD Waterhouse,
and have since secured other significant business, demonstrating a strong new
business pipeline. As a result of these successes, and to give customers
confidence in the long term, both parties have agreed to extend their agreement
by a further 2 years until the end of 2006. Under the terms of the agreement,
revenues generated by customers of the Alliance are shared by both parties on a
variable basis.

Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer of Eckoh Technologies, commented:

"Over the past year we have worked extremely hard developing a strong team and
close working relationship with BT which has created the right platform from
which to develop our Alliance. It is therefore immensely satisfying only midway
through our agreement to be able to point to a profitable venture which is being
extended because of its early success. We remain committed to Eckoh becoming the
market leading hosting provider for Speech Solutions and having a longer term
contract with BT undoubtedly brings us closer to delivering on that strategy."

Andy Hill, head of Voice Commerce, BT Global Services, said: "Our relationship
with Eckoh Technologies has enabled BT to provide an effective platform for the
delivery of hosted advanced speech solutions to our business customers. Early
wins with this exciting proposition have demonstrated the significant impact
that well-designed speech applications can have in transforming businesses
operations, and have truly proven the hosted model."


For further enquiries, please contact

Eckoh Technologies plc                                        Tel: [phone]
Martin Turner, Chief Executive Officer
Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer

Buchanan Communications                                       Tel: [phone]
Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia


For further information on BT, please contact
Band & Brown Communications                                   Tel: [phone]
Josephine Bowen/Laura Lynne


Notes to Editors

About Eckoh Technologies:

Eckoh Technologies plc designs, builds, hosts and manages Speech Solutions for
large corporations and organisations using ASR (Advanced Speech Recognition) and
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technologies. It is a leading UK service
provider and infrastructure owner/operator, and intends to exploit the
anticipated growth in demand for Speech Solutions across Europe.

In January 2003, Eckoh signed a landmark deal to create an exclusive speech
alliance with BT to provide hosted speech recognition solutions to their
corporate client base over the next 2 years. This contract was then subsequently
extended until December 2006. A two-year contract with TD Waterhouse for a
speech recognition share check service was announced by BT and Eckoh in October
2003.

In June 2003 Eckoh enlarged its call processing infrastructure to 7,000 lines
(capable of handling 500,000 calls an hour) by installing another platform into
a BT hosting facility. This created the largest speech enabled call processing
platform in Europe.

Eckoh has secured contracts to supply hosted Speech Solutions to clients
including Virgin Mobile, Centrica, William Hill, Wyevale Garden Centres and the
RNIB.

Eckoh also operates the following businesses:

  * IVR - following the acquisition of Intelliplus Group plc in Sept 2003,
    Eckoh is one of the largest providers of managed IVR and SMS services in the
    UK to media clients including the BBC, Channel 4, Chrysalis, Endemol, EMAP,
    Johnston Press and Cartoon Network.
  * Network Services - under the "Symphony" and "Freecom" brands, Eckoh
    supplies fixed line and mobile telephony services, broadband and data
    services to SMEs in the UK and Ireland. Following the acquisition of
    Intelliplus Network Services now has an SME customer base of over 13,000.

In the year to 31 March 2003, Eckoh generated turnover of #55.1m.


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