The Ministry of Defence has extended its network and communications contract with BT by three years to 2015, through the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) Agreement.

The DFTS Agreement, signed in July 1997, began by transforming the 19 separate telecommunication networks, serving the Royal Navy, the British Army, The Royal Air Force and the MOD itself, into a single multi-service platform.

BT said the extension will involve a transformation programme. BT will manage a number of implementation projects, including an upgrade to the network over which the service is provided. According to BT, this will improve application and security performance.

The DFTS is one of BT's largest contracts, with around 750 full-time staff involved. The contract extension is expected to be worth £640m in revenue to BT over the course of the contract.

The network covers 2,000 sites, interconnecting more than 230,000 users across the UK, Germany, and Cyprus. It carries 750,000 calls every day, and transfers 43 million e-mails a year to and from its dedicated network to external users.