Analysts have stepped up the pressure on British Telecommunications (BT), demanding that the beleaguered UK telecoms company names a day for floating subsidiaries such as BT Cellnet, its mobile phone business, Ignite and Open World.

'They have got to get their act together,' one telecoms analyst said. Another urged Robert Brace, BT's finance director, to overcome his resistance to selling down the successful unit. 'The problem at BT is that they equate control with full ownership,' he said.