BT bets on AI-ready Verizon venture as Kirkby doubles down on the UK
Key Points
- BT and Verizon are merging their international enterprise arms into a 50:50 joint venture
- Combined business: ~$4bn annual revenue, 3,000+ customers, 180+ countries
- Verizon pays BT a $625m equalisation payment; deal targets completion in 2027
- Martijn Blanken named CEO-designate; Clive Selley stays on at BT International
- BT shares rose around 1% in early London trade
BT has agreed to fold its international operations into a 50:50 joint venture with Verizon, and the message from Allison Kirkby could not be clearer: the global sprawl is going, and BT is a UK company now.
The two telcos confirmed on Monday (29 June) that they will combine BT International with Verizon’s international enterprise wireline arm into a single business serving multinationals.
The new venture will carry roughly $4 billion in combined annual revenue, more than 3,000 customers and a footprint across more than 180 countries.
Verizon will pay BT a $625 million equalisation payment to balance the even split, and both sides will hold equal voting rights. Completion is targeted for 2027, subject to regulatory clearances.
This is a divestment dressed as a partnership, and BT is not pretending otherwise.
Kirkby called it a “major milestone” that lets BT “deliver on our UK-focused strategy” – the same strategy that has already seen the group shed assets and retrench around its home market.
BT has been hunting a strategic exit or partner for the international unit since mid-May, and weakness in that business has been a persistent drag on group earnings.
Handing it to a 50:50 vehicle, taking $625 million up front and keeping half the upside is about as clean a solution as Kirkby was going to find.
Kirkby said the $625 million payment will fund the venture, with anything left over going to pay down debt – a useful line for a balance sheet that investors still watch closely.
The market gave a modest nod: BT shares rose around 1% in early London trade.
Both companies are leaning hard on the AI framing. The venture is pitched as a “future-ready” platform “designed for the age of cloud and AI”, with sovereignty and local compliance baked in.
This kind of secure, cross-border connectivity is increasingly demanded by multinationals as they scatter workloads across regions and regulators.
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman called a single global organisation “the clear answer” for those customers, while stressing that Verizon will keep serving them directly in the US.
Kirkby, for her part, said the two firms’ customer footprints were complementary, with “only the odd overlap” – which is a polite way of saying the competition regulators should have little to chew on.
Martijn Blanken, a veteran of Telstra, KPN and EXA Infrastructure, becomes CEO-designate and joins BT on 1 September to prepare the launch. Clive Selley stays on to run BT International through the transition, and Verizon’s leadership is unchanged.
This is a sensible deal for both as BT offloads an underperforming, capital-hungry global operation without crystallising a fire-sale, banks a chunk of cash, and keeps a stake in whatever scale the combined entity can build.
Verizon gets a dedicated international arm without having to run it solo.
Whether the “AI-ready, sovereign-where-it-matters” pitch translates into actual growth is the open question – but that is a 2027 problem.
For now, Kirkby gets exactly what she has been telling the City she wants: a leaner, more British BT.
The transaction remains subject to regulatory clearances and employee consultation, and the two international businesses will keep operating independently until close.
