BT wins back Lloyds Banking Group contract from IBM

BT confirms a networks deal worth an estimated £600m has been completed

Communications giant BT has verified that it has signed a deal with Lloyds Banking Group to provide networked voice and data services to the bank.

A report in The Times in September this year speculated that BT would win the contract, and reported that it was likely to be one of the biggest telecoms contracts in the UK this year.

However, as yet BT was unwilling to give further details of the deal, such as how much it was worth. Lloyds was also unwilling to comment on the deal.

“BT Global Services can confirm that it has agreed a deal to provide voice and data networks to Lloyds Banking Group,” said a BT spokesperson.

BT previously lost out on the contract to IBM and Vtesse Networks in 2004, when Lloyds exchanged desktop phones for voice over internet protocol services (VoIP).

The previous seven-year deal, worth £500m, saw IBM act as a strategic technology partner for Lloyds TSB as the bank moved to a high-capacity optical, DSL and MPLS network supporting both voice and data communications.

BT will be providing the networks under its Global Services division, which – as demonstrated by the company's second-quarter results released last week – has seen order intake jump 50 per cent to £2.1bn since the deal was announced.

Following the acquisition of HBOS in January last year, Lloyds Banking Group is the largest retail bank in the UK.