BT sets course for Wireless sell-off

Speaking as he unveiled BT's third-quarter figures late this morning, Bonfield said: "We are mindful of the market, but we are still heading towards an IPO. We have never had a highly inflated view of our wireless business, unlike some of the other fold."

Bonfield's remarks seem to be a thinly-veiled attack on France Telecom, which slashed the IPO price of its Orange subsidiary by 18 percent yesterday.

He also revealed that BT has the go-ahead from the Inland Revenue to distribute 90 per cent of the shares of Yell to its shareholders, selling off the remaining 10 per cent within the next three months.

The BT Wireless flotation and the disposal of the telco's stake in Spanish group, Airtel should raise up to £5bn and go some way towards the company's target of reducing debt by £10bn.

BT also revealed its third quarter figures today. They show increased turnover but a slump in profits to £1.79bn for the nine months to December - down from the £2.3bn for the same period in 1999. Its shares dropped seven per cent to 631p expressing market disappointment.

Debt has hit £19.1bn and is set to meet the £30bn mark by the end of March, as has long been predicted.