BT is teaming up with computer maker Hewlett Packard in a seven-year deal worth £840m and aimed at the global market in corporate telecommunications and technology spending.

The telecoms company will manage the American firm's voice and data networks and call centres in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while Hewlett Packard will manage BT's information technology infrastructure in Britain.

Corporate spending on IT and communications is thought to run at about £220bn in Europe alone.

BT is hoping that the al liance will boost revenues at its Global Services business while Hewlett Packard is seeking to sharpen its competitive capacity in its battle with IBM.

Yesterday one of BT's domestic rivals in the corporate telecoms market, Thus, said it remained on course to make an operating profit in the second half of the current financial year. "We remain comfortable with market expectations for that," chief executive William Allan said.

In the year to the end of March, Thus - which was spun out of ScottishPower in 1999 - said that turnover was up by 14% to £332m, while the loss before tax had been cut by more than 50% to £25m.

Although the market remained tough, Mr Allan said that Thus had demonstrated its ability to continue to grow and to win big contracts.

Thus said its chairman, Roy Brown, had indicated that he wanted to stand down and that the search was starting for a replacement.

Elsewhere, Tesco Mobile said it had signed up 250,000 customers since the launch of the business in September last year. Tesco Mobile is a 50-50 joint venture between the supermarket group and mobile telephone service provider O2.

Meanwhile competition between Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom - two of Europe's top mobile phone companies - has intensified. Vodafone is rolling out its third-generation mobile phone services in Germany and Portugal this week, allowing customers new services such as news and sports video downloads.

T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile telephone division, immediately responded to the news, saying it would have third-generation handsets in the shops immediately - a week ahead of the planned launch date.

Mobile telephone operators spent more than £66bn on 3G licences at the height of the dotcom boom.

The roll-out of 3G networks, however, has been dogged by technical problems.