BT details break up

Sir Peter Bonfield today announced the start of BT's dismemberment and said it should cut down on the need for Oftel regulation, cut £10bn of the telco's debt and he also revealed sales were up, but profits were down.

Under the new umbrella of BT Group, a holding company, BT will set up a new NetCo to "focus solely on meeting the needs of the other licenced operators, including BT Retail and BT Ignite." It is this separation that Bonfield hopes will take the company out of the shadow of Oftel. NetCo is to post a separate listing. Up to 25 per cent of BT Wireless and Yell will go public in the second half of next year. BT Ignite is to be whipped into shape by the end of 2001 so that it can follow suit. Bonfield added that BT will now focus on Western Europe and Japan and its smallholdings, built up at random over the past three years in places like Hong Kong and South Korea, will be sold. All of these sales will go towards reducing BT's debt by £10bn by December 2001. All the organisational plans and sales could require both legislative and Oftel approval. An Oftel spokesman said: "We will need to study the plans carefully to decide if they have any implications for regulation. If necessary, we will carry out consultation with the industry and consumers." Pre-tax profits for the past six months were £1bn on sales of £14.4bn compared with profits of £1.7bn on sales of £10.3bn for the same period last year.