British Telecom, which owns Esat, was today believed to be on the verge of launching a massive share issue in a bid to slash its debt mountain.
The group was expected to announce plans this week to raise around Stg£5 billion through issuing new shares to the City to further reduce its Stg£30 billion debt.
It was also reported to have plans to demerge its mobile phone operation BT Wireless, the Sunday Telegraphsaid.
The demerger would replace plans to float 25 per cent of BT Wireless, and would be worth up to Stg£20 billion, it reported.
A spokesman for the group would not comment on either matter.
The Stg£5 billion share issue would bring BT close to realising its goal of knocking Stg£10 billion off its debt by the end of the year.
Last week the group raised Stg£4.4 billion when it sold its stake in Japan Telecom, Japanese mobile phone operator J-Phone and Spanish mobile phone group Airtel to its UK rival Vodafone.
This was followed by an announcement on Friday that it was selling its 33.33 per cent stake in Malaysian Maxis Communications Berhad to its partner Usaha Tegas for Stg£350 million in cash.
These sales will have reduced its debt by a net of more than Stg£4.7 billion.
Although BT sold its stakes in Japan and Spain for Stg£4.8 billion, it had to spend more than Stg£300 million in acquiring further shares in J-Phone before the deal took place.
The group, which recently announced it was selling its headquarters in the City of London, also looks set to sell or demerge its Yellow Pages division, which could raise a further Stg£3 billion for the group.
PA