BT and Verizon said they will merge their international enterprise fixed‑line businesses into a 50‑50 joint venture. The new entity aims to serve more than 3,000 multinational customers across 180 countries and is slated to close in 2027, subject to regulator sign‑off. Both firms describe it as built for a cloud‑first, AI‑driven world, and to leverage combined fiber backbones for higher bandwidth.

To ensure equal voting power, Verizon will pay BT an equalization sum of $625 million. Former Telstra and KPN executive Martijn Blanken will lead the venture as CEO, joining BT on September 1 to ready the transaction. The partners expect substantial scale efficiencies, tighter compliance with local data‑sovereignty rules, faster rollout of next‑generation connectivity platforms, and to harmonize pricing models across regions.

The deal settles years of speculation about the fate of BT International, a unit spun out last year amid cost‑cutting talks by CEO Allison Kirkby. By pooling network assets, the joint venture could reshape enterprise telecom, offering customers broader reach and unified service contracts. The combined footprint also strengthens bargaining power with equipment vendors.