COLT Appoints Tony Bates To Board Of Directors


LONDON, April 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- COLT Telecom Group plc (COLT), a leading European provider of business communication services and solutions, announced today a further strengthening of its senior management team with the appointment of Tony Bates to the Board of Directors and as Chief Administrative Officer with effect from 1 May 2004.

In the newly created management position of Chief Administrative Officer Mr Bates, currently interim Chief Financial Officer of COLT, will have responsibility for Finance, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Real Estate, Audit and Risk Management, Company Secretariat and Corporate Communications and will report directly to the President and Chief Executive.

COLT Chairman, Barry Bateman said:

"As we position COLT for its next phase of growth I am pleased to announce Tony Bates' appointment as Chief Administrative Officer and Director. Tony's international management experience and strong commercial drive will make a significant contribution to the future success of COLT."

Tony Bates is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants having qualified with Arthur Andersen in London and holds a First Class Honours Degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. His early career was spent at Phillip Morris (now Altria Group Inc.) and then as Finance Director of Habitat UK Ltd. He joined EMI Group plc in 1990, initially as Finance Director of EMI Records Ltd, rising through a number of highly commercial financial management roles to become both Group Finance Director of EMI Group plc and Executive Vice President of EMI Recorded Music.

ABOUT COLT

COLT Telecom Group plc is a leading pan-European provider of business communications services and solutions. The company owns an integrated 20,000 kilometre network that directly connects approximately 10,000 buildings in 32 major cities in 13 countries augmented with a further 42 points of presence across Europe and 11 Internet Solution Centres. COLT supplies customers across the full spectrum of industry, service and government sectors with unrivalled end-to-end network security, reliability and service.

COLT Telecom Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (CTM.L) and NASDAQ (COLT). Information about COLT and its products and services can be found on the web at www.colt.net.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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CONTACT

John Doherty
Director Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 20 7390 3681
Email: jdoherty@colt-telecom.com

Gill Maclean
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel +44 20 7863 5314
Email: gill.maclean@colt-telecom.com