BT Group (BT) and Verizon Communications have sealed an agreement to combine their respective international enterprise operations into a 50:50 joint venture, a move that is expected to transform international connectivity.
The new joint venture will focus on serving multinational organisations. It is expected to serve more than 3,000 customers across more than 180 countries, representing about $4 billion in combined annual revenue.
This breadth of operations is intended to unlock significant scale efficiencies across the combined global network and service operations following completion.
The joint venture brings together BT International, which serves multinational customers with secure and resilient communication and network services around the world, with Verizon’s international enterprise wireline arm, which provides secure connectivity to enterprises worldwide.
Both BT and Verizon will hold equal voting rights and Verizon has agreed to pay BT an equalisation payment of $625 million.
By combining global scale with infrastructure designed and built to support local compliance and sovereignty needs, the joint venture will create a stronger platform for growth and accelerate the rollout of next-generation connectivity platforms. Customers will benefit from secure and resilient connectivity designed to meet data, operational and regulatory requirements.
“Bringing together this expertise and heritage with Verizon’s deep relationships with multinationals will create a stronger, scaled connectivity partner – one that has the reach, innovation and investment to succeed. Customers will benefit from new, secure and resilient platforms, which are designed for the age of AU and sovereignty where it matters,” said Allison Kirkby, CEO of BT Group.
Dan Schulman, CEO of Verizon, said their international customers require secure, flexible connectivity that works seamlessly across borders and cloud environments.
“When we thought about how to best support them, this joint venture was the clear answer: a cutting-edge, AI-ready and secure platform run by a single global organization dedicated to their needs. At the same time, our relationship with those customers will stay equally strong as we continue to directly provide them with the connectivity they need in the US,” said Schulman.as we continue to directly provide them with the connectivity they need in the US,” said Schulman.
The transaction is expected to complete in 2027, subject to regulatory clearances and consultation with employee representations in countries where required.
BT and Verizon’s international businesses will continue to operate independently until the transaction officially closes.
