LONDON -- BT today announced the signature of a framework contract for the provision of external network services to various EU institutions, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, among others.

The total order value for the initial duration of the agreement (4 years) is estimated by the European Commission DG Informatics at approximately 72 million EUR, with a potential of four additional years, bringing the market volume to approximately 162 million EUR(EC DIGIT estimate).

The new contract covers the provision of IP-based managed wide area network services (WAN), remote access services (RAS), teleworking services (TW), internet fallback services (IFB) and network consultancy.

François Barrault, President BT International, said: "We are delighted that the European Commission has decided to put its trust in BT. We were able to demonstrate that we really understood the current issues and long term vision of the European institutions, as they face the challenges and opportunities of the digital networked economy. This contract also further strengthens BT’s position in the Benelux, coming just weeks after the announcement of our EUR 31 million deal with the Dutch Police."

BT Group plc