News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines

BT completes Irish deal with Speed Fibre Group

Telecommunications company BT said today it has completed the sale of its Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit to Speed Fibre Group.

Business • 01 Sep

Allison Kirkby, President and CEO of Swedish multinational telecommunications company Telia, speaks during the annual general assembly of Telia Company AB in Solna, Stockholm, Sweden on April 5, 2023. (Photo by Claudio BRESCIANI / various sources / AFP) /

BT boss Kirkby expects AI to deepen job cuts - FT

BT Group chief executive Allison Kirkby said advances in artificial intelligence could deepen significant job cuts under way at the British telecoms company, the Financial Times has reported.

Business • 16 Jun

BT has reported core earnings of £8.21 billion, up 1% on the previous year.

Fibre demand and cost savings shore up earnings for BT

BT, Britain's biggest mobile and broadband provider, said strong demand for fibre broadband and more than £900m of costs savings helped shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow.

Business • 22 May

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority began an investigation in 2022 into how sports broadcasters shared sensitive information about freelancers' pay

UK watchdog fines broadcast firms £4m in freelancer probe

Britain's competition regulator fined four sports broadcast and production companies about £4m in total today for sharing sensitive information about fees for freelance camera operators and sound technicians.

Business • 21 Mar

New accounts show that profits reduced at BT Communications Ireland Ltd (BTCIL) as revenues dipped by 2% from €343.5m to €338.3m.

Pre-tax profits at BT's main Irish arm fall 4% to €42.7m

Pre-tax profits at BT's main Irish arm last year declined by 4% to €42.7m.

Business • 25 Feb

The sale of BT Communications Ireland Ltd (BTCIL) includes BT's domestic network infrastructure, over 400 customers, and associated teams supporting wholesale and business enterprises

BT to sell Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit

Telecommunications company BT has announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of its Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit to Speed Fibre Group.

Business • 05 Feb

(Stock image) The €59 million transaction is expected to complete during the first half of 2025, subject to competition and regulatory clearance.

Equinix to acquire BT's datacentre business in Ireland

Equinix has agreed to acquire BT's datacentre business in Ireland, which includes two datacentres in CityWest and Ballycoolin, Dublin.

Business • 23 Dec 24

The Competition Appeal Tribunal in London has ruled in favour of BT in a case which accused the former telecoms monopoly of excessively increasing prices

BT defeats £1.3 bilion UK lawsuit for 'overcharging'

BT has today defeated a £1.3 billion lawsuit brought against the British telecoms company that alleged it had overcharged millions of customers for fixed telephone lines.

Business • 20 Dec 24

BT's shares have risen by 24% in the last six months

India's Bharti to buy Drahi's stake in BT, worth £3.2bn

India's Bharti Enterprises said it would acquire a 24.5% stake in BT, worth about 3.2 billion pounds, buying out the British company's top investor, telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi as his Altice group struggles with high debts.

Business • 12 Aug 24

Ad group WPP names former BT boss Jansen as new chair

WPP has today named former BT chief Philip Jansen as its new chair, succeeding Roberto Quarta at the world's largest advertising company.

Business • 30 Jul 24

BT today reported a better-than-expected 3% rise in third-quarter revenue and a broadly in-line 1% rise in core earnings

BT says uptick in Q3 earnings puts it on track

BT, the UK's biggest broadband and mobile operator, said it was on track to grow revenue and profit this year after reporting a better-than-expected 3% rise in third-quarter revenue and a broadly in-line 1% rise in core earnings.

Business • 01 Feb 24

Sainsbury's is targeting over 750 ultra-rapid charging bays in over 100 store car parks by the end of the year

UK grocer Sainsbury's launches EV charging business

British supermarket group Sainsbury's has launched an electric vehicle (EV) charging business, targeting over 750 ultra-rapid charging bays in over 100 store car parks by the end of 2024.

Business • 12 Jan 24

BT plans to retrofit the cabinets to add a charge point alongside the existing broadband service with no need to create a new power connection

BT to turn street cabinets into EV charging points

BT, Britain's biggest telecoms group, said it would convert the first of its street cabinets traditionally used to house cabling to an electric vehicle (EV) charging unit in a pilot that could lead to a network of 60,000 new points.

Business • 08 Jan 24

BT's CEO Philip Jansen is due to step down within the next year

BT CEO Jansen plans to step down over the next year

BT chief executive Philip Jansen will step down within the next year, having set plans in motion for Britain's biggest telecoms provider to cut jobs, become leaner and complete the roll-out of a national fibre network.

Business • 10 Jul 23

Billionaire Patrick Drahi has increased his stake in BT again

Drahi increases his stake in BT to 24.5%

Billionaire Patrick Drahi has increased his stake in BT to 24.5% but reiterated that he does not intend to make a full takeover for Britain's biggest telecoms group.

Business • 23 May 23

BT today has reported third-quarter revenue of £5.2 billion and adjusted core earnings of £2.01 billion

BT reaffirms guidance despite inflationary pressure

BT stuck to its full-year outlook today despite the pressure of high energy costs and other inflationary headwinds, as it reported a 3% dip in third-quarter adjusted revenue, just below market expectations.

Business • 02 Feb 23

BT said the new unit would be formed by putting together its Global and Enterprise divisions

BT combines two units in £100m cost savings drive

BT said today it planned to set up a new unit for corporate customers by combining two existing businesses in a move which it says could save the firm at least £100m by the end of 2025.

Business • 16 Dec 22

The cyber Security Operations Centre is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland (stock image)

Cyber centre to protect NI Civil Service opens

A new centre that will protect the Northern Ireland Civil Service against cyber attacks has officially opened.

Ulster • 25 Oct 22

PwC said it was sorry that aspects of its audit of BT Group for the year ended March 2017 were not of the required standard

PwC fined £1.75m over BT audit after fraud in Italy

Britain's accounting watchdog has today fined auditor PwC £1.75m after it failed to properly challenge UK telecoms group BT once a half-a-billion pound fraud was discovered in BT's Italian operations.

Business • 08 Aug 22

Almost 96% of roughly 21,000 BT Openreach engineers have voted in favour of a strike

BT staff latest in Britain to vote for strikes over pay

Thousands of BT call centre and engineering staff in the UK have voted to strike over demands for better pay at the telecoms group, the latest in wave of labour disputes across industries that threatens a summer of disruption in Britain.

Business • 01 Jul 22

BT Ireland has a contract with the Government to operate the service (file image)

Emergency calls outage caused by 'technical issue'

BT Ireland has apologised after a technical issue prevented callers accessing the Emergency Call Answering Service for over an hour yesterday.

Ireland • 29 Jun 22

BT Group wants to combine its sports broadcasting business with Warner Bros Discovery

BT's venture with Warner Bros Discovery faces UK probe

Britain's competition watchdog said today it had started investigating BT Group's deal to combine its sports broadcasting business with Warner Bros Discovery.

Business • 01 Jun 22

BT said it would fully cooperate with the review, permissible under the UK's national security and investment laws

UK launches review of Drahi's BT stake deal

BT Group said today that Britain's business minister will launch a national security review of a deal by the telecoms group's biggest shareholder Patrick Drahi to increase his stake in BT to 18%.

Business • 26 May 22

BT said the Discovery joint-venture would create a compelling sports offer for its customers

BT finalises Discovery tie-up in sports broadcasting

BT has finalised a deal to combine its sports broadcasting business with Warner Bros Discovery, strengthening a customer offer that chief executive Philip Jansen said was "hitting the mark" with faster broadband and 5G mobile.

Business • 12 May 22

BT said the move would keep it in the 'exciting' content business while sharing expensive rights costs

BT in talks with Discovery on sport TV joint-venture

Britain's BT Group has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery to create a joint venture between BT Sport and Eurosport.

Business • 03 Feb 22