Girl's call is world phone first

Laura Wess was the first person to make a call on the network

A global first has been notched up in a Welsh village with the first call over what BT says is the most advanced telephone network in the world.

Laura Wess, 11, from Wick in the Vale of Glamorgan, made the call to the bishop of St Asaph in north Wales.

It is the UK's first place to use BT's 21st Century Network (21CN), which uses Internet Protocol (IP) technology.

Some 350,000 lines will use it within a year, bringing what BT says will be quicker and cheaper services.

The new network will replace all the existing networks into one.

BT said it would improve phone, data and multi-media services, giving customers greater control, and deliver faster broadband.

The whole of the UK will be covered by the network by 2010, with Wick followed by the Cardiff, Pontypridd and Bridgend areas.

Wick was chosen by BT managers as the first exchange to switch because of its existing technology.

Approximately 30m lines will be switched over to the new network over the next four years.

Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call 130 years ago and today Laura followed in his footsteps to make the very first telephone call on the 21CN Paul Reynolds, BT

BT said it was a "multi-billion pound UK-wide roll-out of the most modern communications infrastructure anywhere in the world".

To mark the occasion, Laura Wess was chosen from the 90 pupils at Wick and Marcross Primary School in the village to make a call to the Right Reverend John Davies.

Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale said: "Today marks a symbolic but momentous occasion for BT, the communications industry, for Wales and the rest of the UK as 21CN, over three years in the making, starts to become real for customers.

"Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call 130 years ago and today Laura followed in his footsteps to make the very first telephone call on the 21CN.

"We have made history here today.

"A network transformation on this scale has not been attempted anywhere else in the world - it's happening now here in Wick, and the rest of Wales and the UK will follow over the next few years."

Enterprise, Innovation and Networks Minister Andrew Davies said Wales' status as the first with the new technology could attract inward investment.

"The eyes of the world are on Wales and Wick today," he said.

"Marconi did some of his early experiments in and around Cardiff and this really is a red letter day for Wales.

"The 21st Century Network will support our drive to become a truly world-class knowledge economy and develop our nation further as an information society," he added.