Verizon Communications and Britain's BT Group are merging their international operations in a deal aimed at allowing both telecom companies to focus more on their domestic businesses.

The companies said Monday that the new joint venture would serve north of 3,000 enterprise clients in more than 180 countries, and generate roughly $4 billion in combined annual revenue.

Under the deal, Verizon will pay BT $625 million to balance out disparities in value, ownership and tax burdens of the JV. The companies said teaming up would allow both sides to benefit from greater scale and being able to use each other's network infrastructure.

The move comes as both telecom operators work to boost their fortunes by cutting costs and focusing on their core businesses.

Dan Schulman took over as chief executive of Verizon in October with a mandate to cut costs and pursue a turnaround of the nation's largest wireless carrier after it lost ground to rivals. Since then, he has initiated Verizon's largest-ever round of job cuts and called for the company to be scrappier.

For BT, the international JV is the company's latest move to focus more on the U.K. market having sold off various international assets in recent years.

The companies said telecom industry veteran Martijn Blanken had been appointed as CEO-designate of the new joint venture. Blanken has nearly three decades of experience in senior leadership roles across telecommunications, technology and digital infrastructure at Telstra, Openwave Systems, EXA Infrastructure and KPN.

BT said its international division would now be classified as a discontinued operation, and that it was reducing its guidance for the fiscal year through March 2027 to reflect that.

The joint venture is expected to be completed next year, subject to regulatory clearances and other closing conditions.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 29, 2026 07:10 ET (11:10 GMT)

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