Profits, revenues fall but BT expands 5G, fibre in first quarter
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 29 July 2021
Even though it saw profits and revenues fall during the three-month period, UK incumbent telco BT reveals in its first quarter that it has invested significantly in developing next-generation wireless and wired networks across the UK.
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For the three months to 30 June 2021, BT reported revenue of £5.071 billion, down 3% compared with a year ago. While other business lines, struggled, revenue grew in BT’s Consumer and Openreach divisions. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was £1.866 billion, up 3%, all units have delivered EBITDA growth, with the exception of the Global business line and reported profit before tax was £536 million, down 4% despite the higher adjusted EBITDA, primarily due to the prior year gain on disposal of domestic Spanish operations.

BT’s capital expenditure rose 63% compared with the same quarter a year ago to £1.507 billion, primarily due, said the company, to investment in spectrum, in particular 5G. Capital expenditure, excluding spectrum payments, was up 9% to £1.011 billion, primarily due to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) provisioning activities, mobile network spend and non-network infrastructure.

Noting highlights in its Consumer division, BT said the line had enjoyed a solid start to the fiscal year as lockdown restrictions eased with what it called strong customer focus resulting in churn nearing record lows. Revenue grew, primarily driven by BT Sport and higher direct handset sales, as lockdown easing allowed pubs, clubs and our retail stores to reopen, even though retail footfall and sales remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.

By 30 June, BT Said that it had increased its FTTP base by 107,00 quarter on quarter, its largest ever quarterly increase. The company’s 5G ready base now stood at over 4 million.