BRITISH Telecom is rolling out a free answering service to all its residential customers.

From yesterday, anyone with a BT phone line was able to sign up to the service.

Called BT Answer, customers dial 1571 to access their messages free of charge.

The scheme is expected to surpass the success of the existing 1471 service which allows users to find out the number of their last caller.

Covering almost 20 million households, it will store 10 messages for up to 20 days.

Messages will also be recorded while customers are busy on other calls or logged on to the Internet.

BT said the launch follows a successful two-month trial in Scotland in which 70,000 customers took part.

It said 99 per cent of those who took part in the trial said they valued the service with 96 per cent claiming they would recommend it to family or friends.

However, users will only be able to access their messages when they return home, unlike BT's £6-a-quarter Call Minder service which stores up to 30 messages and allows customers to record their own personalised greeting and access messages away from home.

Angus Porter, managing director of BT Consumer Markets, said: "Today's hectic lifestyles mean that an answering service is now a necessity, not a luxury.

"This is the latest product to be launched by BT in response to what our customers have told us they really need."

* Mobile phone firm Vodafone is granting £375m-worth of share options to staff in twelve of its international subsidiaries.

Workers in countries from Egypt to Hungary have been awarded options worth up to half their annual salary.

The shares, priced at 157p, Vodafone's closing price last Friday, can be cashed in in either three or ten years' time.

Vodafone's share scheme already operates in the UK and the US. Chief executive Sir Christopher Gent said the move reflected the company's position as an increasingly global group.

He added: "This move will be critical in ensuring the commitment and motivation of our employees on whose support we depend."

Vodafone, the biggest mobile phone operator in the world, has a presence in 29 countries.

Workers who get share options are in Australia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.