May 11 (Bloomberg) -- BT Group Plc is in talks to sell its 24 U.K. data centers to Hewlett-Packard Co. for 1.5 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) with agreement likely in weeks, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

London-based BT will sign a 10-year contract to keep using the U.K. centers, which store information for corporate clients, the newspaper reported.

BT, which runs Hewlett-Packard voice and data networks in Europe, would manage the global networks of the U.S. company it doesn't already operate as part of the transaction, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Hamilton in London at shamilton8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 11, 2008 05:50 EDT