Broadband saw revenue grow three per cent to £4.5 billion, with EBITDA up the same to £1.6 billion for final three months of 2015
BT has seen subscribers at its MVNO BT Mobile grow to more than 300,000 in just nine months as it sealed it’s £12.5 billion acquisition of EE.
The MVNO, which runs on EE’s network, was launched in March, and the broadband provider said it added more than 100,000 connections in the three months up to December 31.
BT CEO Gavin Patterson said: “This is a strong set of results with good numbers across the board. Revenue was up 4.7 per cent this quarter, our best result for more than seven years. We are making good progress towards our goal of sustainable profitable revenue growth.
“BT Consumer had a standout quarter, increasing its overall line base for the first time in well over a decade and capturing 71 per cent of new broadband customers. Good customer growth in broadband, TV and mobile helped to grow ARPU by seven per cent.
“These are exciting times at BT. We have completed our acquisition of EE, the UK’s best mobile network provider, and are confident that we’ll deliver the anticipated cost and revenue synergies. EE will become a separate consumer-focused line of business within the group.”
Profits up 14pc
The MVNO figures came as BT unveiled three per cent revenue growth to £4.5 billion for the quarter. It also saw EBITDA rise by the same amount year-on-year, to £1.6 billion.
Reported profit was up 14 per cent to £928 million for the quarter, driven by a 71 per cent share of the UK broadband market.
BT also completed its purchase of EE, issuing 595 million new shares. BT has now paid £3.5 billion cash to Deutsche Telekom and Orange in consideration for EE, while the 12 per cent stake DT received for the acquisition has made it BT’s biggest single shareholder.
BT’s infrastructure arm Openreach, which has been subject to calls from rivals to be span off into a separate entity, saw its revenue grow by three per cent to £1.29 billion.
Patterson said: “Fibre is underpinning the growth at Openreach with almost half a million premises taking up the service this quarter via dozens of service providers. The fibre market is highly competitive and growing all the time, which is great news for the UK economy.
“Our superfast fibre broadband network is available to well over 24 million homes and businesses. We will help take fibre coverage to 95 per cent of the country by the end of 2017, with plans to go even further. Our G.fast trials are progressing well. The UK is poised to take the important journey from superfast to ultrafast broadband and BT is well placed to lead the charge.”