• BT is the first provider in the UK to offer a full, end-to-end sovereign portfolio for public and private sector organisations – combining sovereign connectivity, voice, cloud and AI
• New research estimates that digital sovereignty could deliver £18 billion in productivity benefits for the UK economy, by providing the confidence needed for faster AI adoption.
• BT’s sovereign capabilities allow critical services to be modernised with confidence – reducing cyber risk, improving resilience and enabling faster adoption of new technology
• Customers can now run sensitive and regulated workloads in the UK with greater control over data residency, operational governance and security – accelerating adoption of cloud and AI while meeting compliance requirements

London: BT Business today announced the UK’s first full suite of sovereign services, offering public and private sector organisations an end-to-end portfolio spanning sovereign connectivity, voice, cloud and AI. The expanded sovereign platform is built to help customers keep sensitive workloads in the UK, strengthen operational control and deploy advanced digital services faster – without compromising on security, resilience or compliance.

The commercial launch comes as a new report from Assembly Research finds that concerns over data security are holding back AI adoption in the UK. By giving organisations clearer control over how data is stored, accessed and governed, digital sovereignty can provide the confidence needed to scale AI securely – unlocking an estimated £18bn productivity boost for the UK economy.

The report also highlights the wider commercial opportunity created by sovereign infrastructure. Accelerated investment in UK-based data centres could generate £14.6bn by 2030, while the expansion of sovereign cloud services is estimated to be worth an additional £13.6bn over the next five years.

As part of the expanded sovereign portfolio, BT is building sovereign AI capability with Nscale and NVIDIA to deliver new sovereign AI solutions in the UK. This will enable organisations to run AI workloads domestically, scale capacity on demand and meet data residency, security and regulatory requirements – supporting use cases from operational automation to advanced analytics and AI-assisted customer service.

BT is also launching Sovereign Cloud – a private cloud platform hosted and operated entirely within the UK. Designed for organisations handling sensitive or regulated workloads, it provides compute, storage and backup capabilities underpinned by Rackspace Technology’s UK data centre infrastructure, with UK-based, security-cleared teams and managed services to support migration, operations and ongoing compliance.

Jon James, Chief Executive Officer of BT Business, said: “Organisations, public and private, want to move fast with AI and cloud while keeping control over the sovereignty of their data. That’s why BT is the first UK provider to offer a complete sovereign portfolio – from secure connectivity and voice to sovereign cloud and AI – all delivered in one place. Only BT has the scale and infrastructure to help customers modernise critical services with confidence, delivering real benefits for organisations and for the UK as a whole.”

Matthew Howett, Founder and Chief Executive of Assembly Research, said: “Our research shows that digital sovereignty has become a political focus across Europe and in the UK, as concerns about an over-reliance on non-sovereign digital platforms have intensified. The clear prize on offer should encourage the Government to take further steps to realise the opportunities of a wider adoption of digital sovereignty. As well as the potential economic benefits, the wider adoption of digital sovereignty promises enhanced resilience by giving organisations more control over services.”

Alongside growth, the research highlights the role of sovereignty in mitigating risk. Greater control and visibility across data and digital systems can help organisations limit the financial impact of cyber incidents, reducing losses linked to data, intellectual property and digital assets. The report estimates this could save about £632m a year.

Greater use of domestically controlled systems can also simplify compliance. The research suggests it could make it easier for organisations to meet UK data protection rules and sector-specific regulation, helping to avoid up to £1bn in GDPR-related fines.

ENDS

About the report

BT asked Assembly Research to research the potential benefits of digital sovereignty to the UK and the policy levers that the Government could use to realise them. Assembly Research outline policy actions that could encourage the business adoption of digital sovereignty, in support of the Government’s growth agenda.

Assembly Research established an understanding of the different elements of digital sovereignty by assessing the few early approaches and frameworks that have been adopted elsewhere using our expertise in the regulation of global digital markets.

Assembly Research estimated a number of potential economic benefits of a wider adoption of digital sovereignty across the UK based on official UK Government projections, and a review of other literature.

About Assembly Research

Assembly provides independent research on regulatory, policy, and legislative developments in communications markets and the digital economy.

For more information, visit www.assemblyresearch.co.uk