BT International, StackIT partner to extend EU sovereign cloud access globally

Data sovereignty has moved well past regulatory checkbox territory. For multinational companies operating across borders, it now shapes how they build networks, choose vendors, and structure their cloud access entirely. BT International and StackIT, the cloud arm of Schwarz Group, have formed a new partnership that reflects exactly how seriously they are taking that shift.

Under the agreement, BT International will provide internet connectivity to StackIT’s EU sovereign cloud platform, giving multinational organizations outside the EU a way to access it without routing traffic through the public internet. Later, BT will extend this further through its Global Fabric network-as-a-service platform, adding private connectivity that keeps data movement fully contained within sovereign infrastructure.

The practical implication is significant. Previously, companies outside the EU wanting to use StackIT’s platform faced a connectivity gap. Now, through BT’s network spanning roughly 140 global locations, those organizations can reach the sovereign cloud through a private connection while staying compliant with European data protection rules.

StackIT runs four data centers across Germany and Austria, with a fifth currently under construction in Lübbenau, Germany. The platform already carries notable credentials. In 2024, StackIT began delivering sovereign cloud storage to Google Cloud customers.

Earlier this year, the European Commission selected it as one of the providers for its 180 million euro sovereign cloud services contract. Compliance teams evaluating options tend to weigh that kind of institutional backing heavily.

Joris van Oers, chief commercial officer at BT International, noted that sovereignty concerns among enterprise customers now extend well beyond data residency. Operational and technical sovereignty press equally hard, particularly as trade policy shifts and global outages push resilience into board-level conversations rather than purely IT ones.

The timing of this partnership also deserves attention. BT International only opened its doors in June 2025, planting its flag firmly in AI and cloud connectivity from day one. Joining forces with a sovereign cloud provider that already holds a European Commission contract signals the unit is moving fast to earn credibility. In a market where trust matters more than almost anything else, that association carries real weight.

For enterprises juggling EU data regulations while managing infrastructure across multiple regions, BT and StackIT are offering a concrete answer to a gap that conventional cloud arrangements have struggled to close.