The operator says the transactions progress its Global unit’s “transformation” and it will continue to operate in both markets.
The sale of BT’s assets to Computacenter in France, announced in July, has been concluded. The British operator insists it will retain a strong presence in France after the sale to provide networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers.
BT did not say what the transaction was worth beyond, “Operations within the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of c.£104 million (c.€118 million) to BT in fiscal year 2018/19.
Exiting LatAm
BT Global has also divested itself of its assets in Latin America, selling its domestic operations and infrastructure in Latin America to CIH Telecommunications Americas LLC, an affiliate of CIH Technology Holdings.
This deal was announced in March. The new company will operate under the name of Sencinet.
BT said in a statement, “BT and CIH have established a dynamic new channel relationship that allows domestic customers based in Latin America to access BT products, services and solutions globally, and provides global customers with access domestic services in Latin America in a seamless, secure, and reliable way.”
Assets and ops
Assets and operations within the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of £110 million (€122.2 million) to BT in the fiscal year 2018/19. They include two owned fibre networks with total length of 650km, 2000km of leased fibre lines, four data centres, and five teleports.
Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT, said, “We are delighted to conclude this successful transaction, which represents the next step in our strategy to become a more agile and focused business.
“This initiative will help us to keep the business moving forward and continue to connect communities, businesses, and governments. Latin America is a strategic market for BT and we are pleased to begin a new chapter in the region with Sencinet as a strategic partner.”
BT struggles on
BT’s fortunes had reached such a low ebb in August with its market cap at a ten-year that there was speculation that it was a takeover target, which the operator robustly denied.
Its Global business unit has a long and vexed history, including financial scandals, the last of which in Italy played a significant role in BT’s downward trajectory since it came to light in 2016.
At the end of H1 2020, BT’s net debt stood at £17.6billion plus a pension fund deficit of £4 billion in September.