BT Global and BT Enterprise to merge into BT Business

BT Group has said it is to combine its Global and Enterprise units into a single B2B unit, BT Business.

The head of BT Global, Bas Burger, will lead the new venture in place of Rob Shuter CEO of BT Enterprise who is exiting after a two-year service.

According to Mobile Europe, the move was flagged in November as neither had been up to scratch for quite some years.

Currently, the two business divisions cost around £6.5 billion to operate – or slightly over a third of the Group’s total annual operational expenses. BT has said the new unit will drive “significant and rapid” gross annual savings of at least £100 million by the end of 2025.

“By combining the two units, BT Business will bring the Group’s combined assets, products, capabilities, and brand to the service of all of our 1.2m business customers who will benefit from faster innovation and delivery,” said BT Group’s chief executive Philip Jansen.

Whilst BT is confident the merger will create a more simple unit for both corporate customers and public sector institutions, there is some concern over the success of the merger.

Mobile Europe said some mergers can be difficult to combine due to disparate cultures, processes, systems, and products and services. The time, cost, and effort required to integrate them successfully is also underestimated a lot of the time.

However, in the case of BT, it is hoped that the new unit will thrive off the three specific customer facing units: Consumer supporting UK consumers; BT Business supporting business and public sector customers; and Openreach delivering UK nationwide fixed access infrastructure.

Elsewhere, Vodafone remains in talks with Three over a possible merger – could we see another telco coming together in the new year?