Main content
Search
Footer

France Link

French billionaire's stake in UK's telcom giant BT to be reviewed

Britain's national security review comes after Patrick Drahi's stake in BT increased from 12.1% last year to 18%.

La rédaction de Mediapart

27 May 2022 à 12h17

This article is freely available.

The government will examine French billionaire Patrick Drahi’s 18% stake in BT over national security concerns, the business secretary has said, reports Sky News.

His company Altice is the telecoms company's biggest shareholder, having increased its stake from 12.1% last year.

The move stoked fears that the business would be subject to a takeover.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told BT the government would use "call-in powers" under the new National Security and Investment Act to review the move.

Tougher rules to prevent foreign takeovers of key assets came into force in January.

Mr Kwarteng would be able to impose certain conditions on the investment or block it completely if it is found to be "necessary and proportionate".

Read more of this report from Sky News.

La rédaction de Mediapart

Comment

Managing cookies

We use cookies on our website, and similar technology on our mobile apps, which allow us to collect data about your device and usage of the site. Some of these are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our services and cannot be switched off.

Others are optional, and their collection of your data can be either authorised or refused by you. Please note that these both enhance your experience as a reader of our website and contribute to its performance, and that Mediapart does not sell any data about its website users to third parties.

Do you consent to Mediapart’s use of cookies or similar technology in order to enhance the services it provides ?

The cookies and similar technologies we use on Mediapart are of different natures and allow us to pursue different purposes.

Some are necessary for the functioning of the site and the mobile application (you cannot refuse them). Others are optional but help to facilitate your experience as a reader and in some way support Mediapart. You can refuse or accept them below, depending on their purpose.

Do you agree that Mediapart uses cookies or similar technologies for the following purposes ?

You can make your choice, for each category, by enabling or disabling the switch button.

Mandatory for the operation
of the site or application

Subscriber login, anonymized audience measurement, sending of push notifications, tracking of failures, highlighting of our services these tools are necessary to track the activity of our services and their proper functioning.

Here are the various cookies and similar technologies included in this category :

Authentication cookies : subscriber login.
AT Internet : anonymized audience measurement
Display of multimedia editorial content : videos (YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, INA), social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter), documents (Scribd, Document Cloud, Slideshare), sounds (SoundCloud, Spotify, Deezer), maps (Google Maps, Mapbox, CartoDB, uMap), infographics (Highcharts, GitHub, Datawrapper, Flourish, Infogram, ThingLink, jQuery, Google Fonts, Bootstrap), live blogs (24liveblog, CoverItLive), media integration support in Journal and Club publications (Embedly).
Typeform : optional questionnaires to collect readers opinions on our digital products.
Datadog (only on the website) : technical indicators and load balancing.
Selligent (only on the website) : communication with the subscriber, highlighting of services, offers and benefits.
Batch (only on the app) : sending push notifications and in-app messages.
Firebase Cloud Messaging (only on app) : required for push notifications to work on Android.
Microsoft App Center (only on app) : app update and failure tracking system.

Statistics

These tools allow us to collect statistics on site and mobile application traffic to understand usage, detect possible problems and optimize the ergonomics of our products.

Advertising retargeting

There is no advertising on Mediapart. But we do promote our content and services on other sites and social networks. For this, we use technologies made available by some advertising companies.

Content Access Management

We use the Qiota service from Opper Marketing Suite to configure the activation of a datawall on certain content (available only on the website). This system, intended for non-subscribed users, requires the input of an email address to access the relevant content. By providing this information, the user consents to its collection, storage, and use for statistical purposes. In accordance with the applicable regulations, users have the right to access, rectify, and delete their data, which they can exercise by contacting dpo@opper.io.