BT's £5bn hit

NEWS BT and AT&T's decision to finally call off their loss-making joint venture Concert will cost the two companies heavily in the short-term. The two telcos will take on a one-time charge to dismantle the long-distance service, to the tune of $7.3bn (£5bn). As we reported yesterday 2,300 jobs will go as BT and AT&T split the Concert network. The news had been forecast for many weeks as BT struggled to manage mounting debts. AT&T is expected to go it alone on the international stage while BT is focusing on domestic and European business for the time being. Last year Concert turned in a profit of $400m but as the telecoms market took a turn for the worse so did the fortunes of the joint venture. In the first nine months of 2001 it turned in a loss of $750m.