BT has agreed the sale of its Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit, BT Communications Ireland Ltd (BTCIL), to Speed Fibre Group for €22 million. The sale includes BT’s domestic network infrastructure in Ireland, plus 400-odd customers and all the staff supporting them. It does not include BTCIL’s customer base of multinational enterprises, large Irish organisations, or its recently divested data centre business. Nor does it include the contract for Ireland’s Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS), won by BTCIL back in 2009.
Employees associated with these other elements will remain with UK-based BT Group. The ECAS receives and directs emergency calls and texts in Ireland. The transaction includes a long-term deal for BT and Speed Fibre Group to source connectivity from each other for their respective customers. The data centre divestment is subject to regulatory approval, like the BTCIL sale, which is expected to complete in 2025. The deal, organised as a ‘put and call’ agreement for the two parties to buy and sell at a specific price, puts the BTCIL share capital at €22 million.
The deal is part of a wider retooling of BT’s international operations,and notably its enterprise business, going on for some years in effect. The UK telecoms provider said a year ago – at the end of its 2023/24 financial year, when profits slipped by 31 percent and 55 percent before and after tax – that it was “exploring options to optimise [its] global business” to create a “simpler” UK-centric business. It has a broader target to slash £3 billion of gross annualised costs by 2030. Burger’s new role is to resolve its international business elements.
BT merged its national (BT Enterprise) and international (BT Global) enterprise divisions merged in late 2022. It has since folded its Division X innovation business, founded in 2022, into its product team within BT Business. This week, it announced the hire of Jon James as chief executive of BT Business from Danish telecoms provider Nuuday, with a brief to “fully focus on the UK”. James, with a “track record in business turnarounds”, replaces Bas Burger, appointed three years ago with the creation of the single BT Business division.
James is also a former lieutenant of BT Group chief Alison Kirkby, who splitDanish national operator TDC into two separate infrastructure and services companies, TDC NET and Nuuday, in order to handle its old tower and fibre units and its consumer and enterprise services, respectively. Burger said the sale of BTCIL is a “key milestone in focusing our international business on what it does best: providing secure multi-cloud connectivity to large organisations globally and in Ireland”.
Speed Fibre Group owns telecoms companies Enet and Magnet+, and is owned by infrastructure investor company Cordiant Digital Infrastructure. The deal will “solidify its standing” in the local telecoms infrastructure market and “broadening its reach” in the wholesale and enterprise connectivity markets, it said. Speed Fibre Group will be BT’s wholesale network and national services partner, said BT. The UK firm will retain 400 staff in Ireland, and “connections to BT’s global network infrastructure and propositions”.
Peter McCarthy, chief executive at Speed Fibre Group, said: This acquisition enables us to deliver even greater value to our customers by expanding our range of connectivity solutions. It’s a positive development for the Irish market, providing us with the scale and capabilities to better serve our growing customer base.”
Shay Walsh, managing director at BT Ireland, said: “We have transformed our operations in Ireland over the past eighteen months to position our various business units for future growth. This new chapter will see BT focusing on multinationals and large organisations in Ireland, with Speed Fibre Group as its wholesale network and national services partner. Through this transaction, I am confident that the complementary strengths of both entities will unlock new opportunities, drive innovation, and sustain long-term growth in the Irish telecommunications market.”
Burger said: “Today’s announcement is another key milestone in focusing our international business on what it does best: providing secure multi-cloud connectivity to large organisations globally and in Ireland. Our Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit, which has been a leading alternative provider for more than 30 years, will enter a new era with Speed Fibre Group. We are confident that Speed Fibre Group will continue to deliver exceptional service to customers, and we look forward to working together with them as our future partner in Ireland.”
