Hey there
Dont panic, the £5bn Debt is the loan they got from the Government- they still havent paid off the network they own, which means bad news for me (they wont be rolling out to any other areas any time soon) - ontop of this debt they have (as you say) got all the takeover £££
Oh and BTW. for "legal reasons" Telewest "bought" NTL - (worked out cheaper but i cant remember the reason)
^ Or at least - thats what my research has told me about these two problems.
Oh if only VM would move closer
:-)