Boss's plan for BT is promising: rein in the foreign adventures and concentrate on the UK

Once 5G investment has been made, the prize of a cash-generative BT as a provider of 21st-century infrastructure can still be glimpsed

- Nils Pratley

It feels like BT has been promising to simplify forever, but here comes the new-ish chief executive, Allison Kirkby, with a plan that sounds more promising: rein in the foreign adventures and focus on the UK.

It makes sense because BT's long-term fortunes ultimately rest on the progress in its home market of EE in mobile, Openreach in broadband and the UK corporate business. Kirkby's timing is also good. One of the explanations for yesterday's soft revenue forecast that sent the shares down 4% was "weaker non-UK trading".