BT and Verizon agree to combine their international enterprise operations | Infinium-tech

Verizon and BT Group have announced plans to combine their international enterprise fixed-line operations into a new joint venture. Subject to regulatory approval, the move is expected to close in 2027. BT and Verizon say the new company will be “designed for a cloud-first world in the age of AI”, whatever that means.

It will be a 50-50 joint venture and will serve over 3,000 multinational organizations in over 180 countries. Verizon will pay BT the same amount of $625 million to guarantee equal voting rights.

The combination of BT and Verizon’s international enterprise fixed-line operations is expected to unlock “significant scale efficiencies in the combined global network and service operations”. BT and Verizon plan to use the joint venture’s infrastructure to meet local compliance and sovereignty requirements and accelerate the rollout of next-generation connectivity platforms.

Former Telstra and KPN executive Martijn Blanken will be CEO of the new company. He will join BT on September 1 to prepare for the transaction. The deal ends years of speculation about the future of BT International. BT CEO Alison Kirkby said in 2024 that it could potentially sell the unit as part of a cost-cutting programme. BT International was created a separate business unit last year in preparation for a similar deal.

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