BT maintains pace of fibre deployment
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Editor
| 19 May 2023
After what it said was a year of continuing to build and connect like fury, the UK’s leading telco BT has finished a financial year which it said it was clear that customers loved full-fibre with not only strong growth in fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) but also in 5G mobile.
OPenreach Full Fibre 14June2022
For the year ended 31 March 2023, BT reported total revenues of £20.7 billion, down 1% on an annual basis, driven by strong growth at the Openreach broadband provision division. EBITDA was £7.9 billion, falling 55 compared with the end of the previous fiscal year.

Overall, the BT Consumer division generated £9.737 billion in revenue, slipping back 1% on an annual basis. EBITDA was £2.623 billion, climbing 16% compared with the previous year. Revenue was up 1% and EBITA rose 5% at the sports joint venture former with the merger of the BT Sport assets with Discovery which going forward will be known as TNT Sports. The sports joint venture had net assets of £1.097 billion as of 31 March 2023 but recorded a total comprehensive loss for the year of £123 million.

The telco showed a FTTP build of 702,000 premises passed in the fourth quarter of 2023 at an average build rate of 54,000 per week, reaching 41% of its target to reach 25 million premises with FTTP by the end of 2026. The company finished the year with a FTTP footprint of 10.3 million, up 43% annually with a further 6 million where initial build was underway.

Customer demand in Openreach for FTTP was said to be extremely strong with orders in the 2023 financial year up 70% year-on-year. Take up rate grew to 30.4% with record net adds of 395,000 in the quarter with a base of 3.1 million. Q4 2023 saw a record number of FTTP connections up 50%year-on-year with a base now over 1.7 million.

In mobile, BT’s EE division ended with 8.6 million 5G connections up 62% on the previous financial year. The EE 5G network now covers 68% of the UK population.

“We have delivered our outlook for FY23: this year we’ve grown both pro forma revenue and EBITDA for the first time in six years while navigating an extraordinary macro-economic backdrop. Over the last four years we have stuck firmly to our strategy and it’s working said Chief Executive Philip Jansen commenting on the results.

“Openreach is competing strongly and it’s clear that customers love full fibre. The Openreach Board has reaffirmed its target to reach 25 million premises with FTTP by the end of 2026 and plans to accelerate take-up on the network. In Consumer we’re delivering for customers.”