BT Group plc this morning reported second-quarter revenues of stg£4.4bn, down 9pc on the year before, and earnings of stg£1.4bn (EBIDTA). The company’s CEO Ian Livingston said that with 12m premises passed by fibre with more than 950,000 consumers now connected to fibre, the plan is to accelerate the rollout further.
In the UK, BT now has 47pc marketshare of DSL, LLU and fibre broadband.
For the half-year 2012, the company reported revenues of stg£8.9bn and earnings of stg£2.9bn (EBITDA).
Looking ahead to 2013, BT said it expects underlying revenues to show an improved trend for the second half of the year compared with the first half.
In Ireland, BT revenue increased by 1pc, excluding the impact of foreign exchange movements.
In the quarter, the company agreed to a wholesale deal to provide Sky with managed voice and broadband services, to support their launch in the Republic of Ireland.
BT Ireland said its fibre rollout in Northern Ireland has now reached more than 90pc coverage with more than 100,000 premises already using the service.
In August, we reported that BT is planning to trial fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband in Dun Laoghaire and a number of semi-urban locations across the Republic of Ireland with a view to deploying 80Mbps VDSL broadband. If the trials, which aim to commence next month, are successful, BT Ireland will work to secure funding from its parent company to do a widescale rollout.
Accelerated broadband rollout
“We have delivered another solid quarter of growth in profit before tax despite the economic conditions and regulatory impacts,” Livingston said.
“We continue to make significant investments in the future of our business and we are again accelerating our fibre rollout. We now expect fibre to be available to two-thirds of UK premises during spring 2014, more than 18 months ahead of our original schedule, and we are recruiting more than 1,000 engineers in 2012 to help deliver this.
“Over the summer, we helped to deliver the most connected Olympic and Paralympic Games ever and I am proud of the part that our people played in its success.
“Our confidence in the future of our business is demonstrated by the 15pc increase in the interim dividend,” Livingston said.
