On 26 July 1998, BT and US telecommunications giant AT&T announced they are to form a global venture which, together with partners around the world, will provide an outstanding range and scale of global services - far greater than either AT&T or BT could provide alone or with their current alliances. The 50:50 venture will combine the trans-border assets and operations of each company, including their existing international networks, all of their international traffic, all of their international products for business customers - including an expanding set of Concert services - and some of AT&T and BT's largest multinational accounts. AT&T runs the world's largest long-distance network and one of the largest digital wireless networks in North America, and is a prime Internet service provider to US consumers. With more than 90 million customers, AT&T has annual revenues of over US $50 billion, and some 130,000 employees. BT Chairman Sir Iain Vallance said: "The creation of this new venture will be excellent news for our customers... by positioning ourselves at the forefront of the global information age, we will maximise opportunities to grow revenues and enhance profits for our shareholders." The venture will have its own chief executive officer and management team. Its board of directors will include executives from both parent companies - with Sir Iain Vallance as the first chairman. AT&T and BT will combine their trans-border network investment programmes and adopt a new common network architecture. This will be an intelligent, managed Internet Protocol (IP)-based global network which will support services such as global electronic commerce, global call centres and new Internet-based solutions. BT Chief Executive Sir Peter Bonfield said: "With such a powerful partner, this new venture significantly builds on the world-leading position created by BT with Concert as it moves into the next generation of IP-based networks." The venture will need approval from the European Commission, the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Communications Commission. In addition, there will be a UK regulatory review and secondary filings in other jurisdictions may be required. However, the pro-competitive nature of the proposal - in particular the opportunity it offers to provide global telecommunications competition in many countries where no competition exists today - means that BT and AT&T believe that the venture could receive approval within a year.