Andrew Longden, treasurer of British Telecom, is preparing for a showdown with Moody's, the rating agency. Longden will meet Moody's analysts, including Carlos Winzer, to lobby strongly for an upgrade now that BT has restructured, reduced its debt and met the requirements laid out by the rating agency earlier this year.

'We will be putting across our point of view at the meeting and giving Moody's an update of where we are. I am not expecting it to make a formal ratings review immediately - it has not indicated that it will do that. But we have delivered on everything we said we would and we are looking to get the upgrade,' Longden said.