Marconi, the recovering telecoms equipment maker has passed a major milestone 4 years early. Over £671m ($1.2bn) of restructuring debt has been repaid.

$717m of senior secured notes due in 2008 has now been fully redeemed. $487m of junior debts had been fully redeemed earlier this year.

CEO, Mark Parton commented that "an anticipated annual interest charge of over $100m has been eliminated through the prompt repayment."

Asset sales of non-core elements of the business, financed the repayments. The most recent disposal was Outside Power & Plant, based in the US.