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One in 10 big City investors is so angered by BT's recent performance that they voted against the telecom giant's latest pay deal for executives.
At the annual meeting 11% of shareholders refused to approve a bonus scheme to pay chief executive Ian Livingston £5.6 million for hitting performance targets.
The Association of British Insurers earlier slapped an "amber top" rating on the company, indicating it is far from supportive of the remuneration deal.
Investor advisory group Pirc described the new pay deal as "potentially excessive" and the performance targets as not "sufficiently challenging".
Small shareholders also queried the £2.9 million "golden goodbye" given to Francois Barrault, former boss of the troubled Global Services division which was forced to write-off £2 billion.
Chairman Sir Michael Rake agreed this performance was unacceptable.
He said BT will make cuts of £1 billion this year to benefit investors, while improving customer service.
As for the 6.5p dividend, he said: "The board is committed to delivering attractive returns for shareholders.
"We believe that operational improvements will generate sufficient cash flow to allow the dividend to grow."
