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James Pearce
August 7, 2015
Operator posts revenues of £1.5 billion for Q2 – up 22 per cent year-on-year
EE CEO Olaf Swantee credits the operator’s strategy of launching ‘first to market’ products and a broad range services was the key driver behind the firm returning to revenue growth for the first time in four years in Q2.
The operator, the largest in the UK with close to 31 million total connections, posted revenues of £1.5 billion in the three months ending June 30 – up 22 per cent year on year.
Speaking to Mobile News, Swantee, who joined EE in 2011, hailed the rise as a result of new-to-industry releases, such as WiFi Calling (1.2 million sign ups), EETV, EE Action Cam, EETV and the offer of a free Power Bar in April – of which 1.1 million customers are now using.
“The diversity of our product range has absolutely been a key driver behind our success, Clearly the ability to provide more than just standard mobile is a key contributor to our revenue growth.”
Subscriber growth
He claimed these factors helped EE increase its contract base by 96,000 (all 4G, after 3G connections were axed on March 1) to 15 million, adding 1.6 million 4G customers (including upgrades) during the quarter. The operator now has 10.9 million subscribers,
meaning it has added 4.2 million 4G subscribers over the past 12 months. It now expects to reach 14 million by the end of the calendar year.
However, prepay numbers continued to slide, plummeting almost 184,000 year on year, reducing its base to 9.2 million.
EE also continues to outpace the industry for broadband, adding 35,000 new users and taking its base above 919,000, a rise of 18.6 per cent year on year.
Swantee credited the rise with the launch of the operator’s online and smartphone-controlled set top box EETV, which is currently free to all new and existing broadband customers. EE is yet to reveal subscriber numbers, but Swantee believes the launch and subsequent adds is a clear indicator of its success.
“The fact that we are growing in fixed broadband, have a comprehensive B2B offering and the broadest mobile broadband offering has shown why we stand out from our competitors.”
Need for speed
Swantee also revealed its double speed 4GEE Extra plans were in the quarter taken by almost half of its contract customers, with the service available to more than 70 per cent of the UK since launching inOctober 2013.
The subject around 4G speeds is one which has often been distanced from by EE’s competitors, particularly O2 and Vodafone, instead focusing on the services and reliability 4G offers.
However adoption of the service, which offers average download speeds of 24-30Mbps for an additional £5 per month continues to appeal to the market.
“It is exceeding our expectations,” said Swantee.
“Our competitors can’t position double speed 4G as a big benefit because they don’t have it, so to have 50 per cent of contract customers using this product is really great.”