BT and Verizon set up $625 million joint venture for international operations

BT and Verizon have agreed to combine their international enterprise businesses in a 50-50 joint venture, creating a larger global platform for multinational customers while stopping short of a full acquisition.

Verizon will pay BT $625 million as an equalisation fee under the deal. The companies said the new venture will serve more than 3,000 customers in about 180 countries and generate about $4 billion in combined annual revenue.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and employee consultations in the jurisdictions where those are required. Until the deal closes, BT’s international operations and Verizon’s relevant business will continue to run separately.

What the deal does

The agreement brings together BT’s international unit and Verizon’s international enterprise operations into a single business with equal ownership and equal voting rights. The companies said the structure is intended to give global customers broader cross-border connectivity without Verizon buying BT’s business outright.

Martijn Blanken has been named chief executive designate of the venture. The new entity will be incorporated in Jersey, while being headquartered and tax resident in the UK.

That structure matters because it preserves a balance between the two groups. BT keeps an interest in the business it has been trying to reshape, while Verizon gains a bigger international enterprise footprint without taking full ownership of the unit.

Why BT is doing it

For BT, the deal continues a longer effort to simplify the group and sharpen its focus on the UK market. The company has been trying to reshape or sell its international business for more than 18 months, and it had already separated the unit for financial reporting purposes.

Chief executive Allison Kirkby has been steering BT toward a more UK-focused strategy. The joint venture advances that plan while still leaving BT exposed to the international enterprise market through the new shared vehicle.

BT said the agreement supports its strategic direction. The company has been under pressure to streamline operations and allocate capital more tightly, and the deal gives it a way to do that without immediately walking away from the international customer base.

Why Verizon wants it

Verizon said the combination gives it greater scale for serving multinational customers that need cross-border connectivity. The group already has a large domestic business, and the joint venture offers a way to extend its reach internationally without buying BT’s operation outright.

That is a lower-commitment route than a takeover, but it still gives Verizon a larger platform in global enterprise services. The arrangement also leaves room for both companies to focus management attention on their core markets while sharing the international business.

How the announcement emerged

The deal was first reported by the Financial Times on the morning of June 29, 2026. The Times later reported that BT would place its international operations into a 50-50 venture with Verizon.

By later the same morning, The Guardian said the companies had announced the deal and quoted Allison Kirkby and Verizon chief executive Dan Schulman on the strategic rationale. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the transaction would merge the companies’ international enterprise operations and said closing was expected in 2027.

The sequence underlines that this is a same-day corporate development rather than a long-finished transaction. The companies have disclosed the terms, but the business still has to clear the formal process needed before completion.

What changes next

The immediate next steps are regulatory approvals and employee consultations. Those are the main gating items before closing, and the companies have said the current international operations will remain independent until then.

The deal also leaves open a few operational questions, including the final timetable for completion and whether the venture will take a final brand name before it launches. For now, the companies have only named the structure, ownership split and leadership designate.

If completed, the transaction would reshape BT’s international footprint and give Verizon a larger global enterprise platform without a full takeover. It would also mark another step in BT’s wider shift toward a simpler, more UK-centric business model.

For now, though, the focus is on clearing approvals and finishing consultations. Only after that process will the two companies bring their international operations together in the new venture.