BT adds 63,000 TV customers

UK multi-play operator BT added 63,000 TV customers in its latest quarter, growing its total TV base to 1.7 million.

Announcing results for the second quarter and half year to 30 September 2016, BT said that BT Sport also had better viewing figures compared to last year, benefiting from its new Saturday early evening slot for Premier League matches.

BT’s consumer division saw revenues rise 11% year-on-year for the quarter to £1.25 billion (€1.4 billion) with a 17% increase in broadband and TV revenue and a 7% increase in calls and lines revenue.

BT said that superfast fibre broadband growth continued with 216,000 retail net additions, taking its customer base to 4.5 million. BT said that 49% of its broadband customers are now on fiber.

“We’ve passed over 26m premises with our superfast fibre broadband network. In total, this means 92% of the UK now has access to fibre broadband from BT or other networks,” said BT.

The company said it remained on track to bring fibre broadband to 95% of the country by the end of 2017, and said that plans to make ultrafast broadband available to up to 12m premises by the end of 2020 are also “progressing well”.

Elsewhere, BT said that it had made good progress on the integration of EE and the delivery of its synergy targets, after it closed its £12.5 billion (€16.7 billion) buyout of UK mobile operator in January.

Overall, BT’s adjusted EBITDA was up 31% to £1.89 billion, while underlying EBITDA adjusted for the acquisition of EE was up 0.9%. Reported revenue was £6.0 billion while pre-tax profit was up 5% year-on-year to £671million.