BT 'welcomes' whopping £2bn investment by French telco Altice

Altice – the French telecoms outfit that operates fibre and mobile networks serving more than 40 million punters in the US, France, Portugal and Israel – has bought a £2bn chunk of BT, it announced today. Today's move means that Altice UK, a company set up for the acquisition, now holds 12.1 per cent of Britain's former state- …

[Mike 137]

",,,allow BT to pay minimal tax for the next couple of years to help fund FTTP builds"

A tax break to BT to fund FTTP builds? I thought Openreach was responsible for infrastructure builds. Doesn't this rather contradict the supposition of them being independent entities? Or is BT once again involved directly in infrastructure building alongside Openreach?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ",,,allow BT to pay minimal tax for the next couple of years to help fund FTTP builds"

And who owns Openreach?

https://www.openreach.com/about-us/who-we-are

[Anonymous Cowtard]

Re: "And who owns Openreach?"

To save some clicks : "Openreach is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Telecommunications plc."

[Anonymous Coward]

Om Nom Nom

All your cut-price utilities are belong to us. Merci mes chou fleurs!!!

[Avatar of They]

But what about Brexit?

It is a slippery slope. All our infrastructure owned by the French.

I can hear the idiot brigade' pitchforks being sharpened and their rose tinted glasses already steaming up with rage at them foreigners coming over here spending their money.

If only someone could think of the chil- "oh, what is an FTTP roll out anyway deary?"

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: But what about Brexit?

Well this deal wouldn't have been allowed by the Eu competition authority - but now free of their red tape we can have British infrastructure owned by the French

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: But what about Brexit?

Sovereignty!!!

- but now free of their red tape we can have EVEN MORE British infrastructure owned by the French.

FTFY.

[Lon24]

Re: But what about Brexit?

But only the bits the Germans didn't get to first ... I think Deutches Telekom has an even bigger chunk of BT. Doris Hill must be turning in her grave.

[Roland6]

Re: But what about Brexit?

Reports are that France Telecom has grabbed a slightly bigger slice of BT than Deutsche Telekom...

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: But what about Brexit?

"Well this deal wouldn't have been allowed by the Eu competition authority - but now free of their red tape we can have British infrastructure owned by the French"

It's got feck all to do with EU or Brexit. French owned water companies for one. EDF nuclear power for another.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: But what about Brexit?

When it comes to Brexit I think we can all agree we have had enough of facts

That's why I can now enjoy my red, white and blue straight bananas

[big_D]

Re: But what about Brexit?

Also, Altice hasn't bought a controlling interest in BT, so probably not a blip on the radar. Only once they get to controlling interest or a buyout is it of "real" interest...

[Dave559]

Re: But what about Brexit?

"It's got feck all to do with EU or Brexit. French owned water companies for one. EDF nuclear power for another."

And, back in the day, what was then one2one was bought by Deutsche Telekom, and Orange UK was bought by France Télécom, but both are now owned by, guess who…

International investments and buyouts are strange and entangled things, sometimes.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: But what about Brexit?

All our infrastructure owned by the French.

Well, they know better than to buy their own infrastructure companies, with their huge debts and un-fireable workforces.

[MiguelC]

Altice is the capital-less capitalist's dream, their acquisitions are mostly funded by new debt, never with their own previous capital gains. As a result, their debt (at the end of 2020, the British numbers are still not available) is astonishing for it's size: €22 billion for the French subsidiary, US$26.4 billion for the American one, €7.1 billion for Altice International, etc.

[Andy E]

Investment in BT?

It's hardly an investment in BT when all Altice have done is bought some BT shares from the Stock Market. The only people seeing Altic's money are the share holders they bought the shares from.

[big_D]

Re: Investment in BT?

Yes, my thoughts exactly. BT hasn't benefited one iota out of this "investment"...

[BenDwire]

Living next door to Altice

Altice? Who the F*** is Altice?

As Roy Chubby Brown almost said ...

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Living next door to Altice

Well, I think the Sub-Ed just earned the next 6 months salary in one sub-head.

Icon for him/her ------------>

[big_D]

Re: Living next door to Altice

Shouldn't that be Smokie?

[BenDwire]

Re: Living next door to Altice

Smokie did the original, but Chubby added the profanities.

Very NSFW without headphones!

[big_D]

Re: Living next door to Altice

Smokie released this version in 1976:

Smokie, who the f' is Alice (NSFW)

;-)