BT has reported Q1 revenue of £4.3 billion (€5bn), flat year-on-year. Adjusted UK service revenue £3.8 billion down 1 per cent, as growth in broadband and Corporate and Public Sector in Business and customer base growth in Consumer were offset by declines in voice.

The telco’s FTTP footprint increased to 23.4 million, an increase of 514k in the quarter, on track to achieve our 25 million FTTP build target by December 2026. There was record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with 574k net adds in the quarter; total premises connected 9.4 million, bringing take-up rate to 40 per cent; Openreach broadband ARPU grew by 7 per cent to £17.70, driven by higher FTTP take-up, speed mix and price increases. Openreach broadband lines fell by 192.

BT reported continued consumer customer growth, up 1k in broadband, 13k in postpaid mobile and 9k in TV. Both broadband and postpaid mobile churn remained stable year-on-year at 1.1 per cent and 1 per cent respectively despite competition as our fibre-first strategy continues to deliver. Consumer ARPU of £40.90 in broadband, down 2 per cent year-on-year primarily due to declines in voice; £19.70 in postpaid mobile, up 2 per cent year-on-year; Consumer fixed and mobile convergence increased to 26.8 per cent from 26.6 per cent last quarter and 25.5 per cent last year; EE One Up rewards programme launched.

Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said: “BT has made a solid start to the year. We are connecting more customers to our next-generation networks, and are increasingly the choice for mission-critical solutions, as we connect and protect the country and accelerate our transformation. Across Openreach and Consumer we achieved record new full fibre connections and take-up, resulting in fibre contributing to more than half of our broadband revenues for the first time. By investing in all our brands, and the services they offer, we’re continuing to grow our Consumer customer base. In Business, service revenue is stabilising, with excellent sales order growth from major customers. In this final year of the PSTN, our service revenue, excluding voice, grew in the quarter.”

“We expanded 5G+ further to now reach 77 per cent of the UK population and our full fibre build is on track to reach 25 million premises by the end of December. Internationally, our proposed joint venture with Verizon will create a scaled global connectivity platform and allow us to focus on our transformation in the UK. No-one is upgrading and investing in the country’s digital backbone at the scale and pace that BT is. We remain on track to deliver our targets, including cash flow of c£2 billion this year and c£3 billion by the end of the decade – as we create a better BT, for all of us,” she added.

Responding to the results, Duncan Ferris, Analyst, Freetrade, said: “BT might have shelled out billions on building its Openreach fibre network, but shareholders need to wait a bit longer for the financial rewards to materialise. It’s worth kicking things off by noting how much heavy lifting Openreach fibre is doing. Fibre now accounts for more than half of broadband revenue, while Openreach broadband ARPU rose by a healthy 7 per cent. But the company’s financials reflect that work is still in progress. Adjusted Q1 revenue was flat and UK service revenue contracted slightly as declines in landline income weighed on the consumer business. Crucially, the business has maintained its target for around £2 billion of free cash flow this year. With the peak of BT’s network building efforts now passed, reduced fibre expenditure should give BT greater financial breathing room. Now, the question is whether customer take-up can help BT’s extensive fibre network start to deliver sustained profit growth.”

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Business, Results, Telco

Tags: bt, EE, Openreach