Fibre, 5G accelerate but BT Q3 shows challenging times
Details
Editor
| 04 February 2021
The continued cost to UK telco BT of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis has been revealed in the company’s third quarter results with particular pressure being felt in its consumer division among others.
bt london 31Oct2020 2
Overall, for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2020, BT reported revenues of £16.058 billion, down 7% on a yearly basis, due mainly said the company due to the impact of Covid-19 on its consumer and enterprise units, ongoing legacy product declines and divestments of domestic businesses in Spain, Latin America and France. BT’s overall adjusted EBITDA was £5.603 billion, down 5%, driven by the fall in revenue, but partially offset by sports rights rebates in the first half of 2020. The latter arose mainly from Premier League football clubs having to return a portion of pay-TV revenues due to the league schedule being interrupted in March 2020.

The consumer business line was said to have seen strong service performance even as Covid-19 headwinds continued. Revenue declined year-on-year as the negative impact of Covid-19 resulted in the continued partial closure of retail stores and pubs and clubs regionally. EBITDA declined in line with lower revenue and continued customer investment in both copper to fibre migrations and growth of the company’s fibre-to-the-premises ( FTTP) base, partially offset by the H1 sports rights rebates.

BT’s consumer broadband base growth helped offset the ARPC decline aided by its largest quarterly increase in the FTTP base, 88,000, which now stands at 686,000. By the end of December 2020, BT’s 5G-ready customer base using the EE mobile network increased to over 2.1 and 5G was live in 125 towns and cities.

“During the current Covid-19 pandemic, BT has continued to deliver for our customers and invest in our networks, our modernisation programme, and our products and services in recognition of the ever-increasing need for improved and faster connectivity,” said BT chief executive Philip Jansen commenting on the nine-month results. “BT has shown again that it has the spirit and determination to step up and deliver for our customers, keeping them connected with a range of initiatives.