BT beats Cable to €790m contract

London: BT Group Plc, Britain’s biggest phone company, beat Cable & Wireless Plc to a seven-year contract worth £530 million (€790m) to build a high-speed Internet network for the British health service.

The broadband network will link all 18,000 National Health Service locations in England, including medical practices, local surgeries and hospitals, Department of Health spokesman Benedict Payne said.

BT is trying to counter a shrinking fixed-line telephone division with revenue from network contracts and high-speed Internet services. In December, the company won orders worth £1.62 billion over 10 years from the NHS to build a database for patients and a network in London.