BT on track for full year due to broadband, pay-TV demand

It’s also the day that the new 4K Sports channel will launch.

Under the terms of the subsidies, the higher than expected demand for faster internet access means the company must return tens of millions of pounds to local government.

“We’ve hit our original take-up assumption and have rolled out ahead of target and on budget”.

“And our financial results show we’re on track to achieve our outlook for the full year”.

The company says that once the rollout is complete it will have spent more than £3bn to upgrade the broadband network.

Profits before tax for the first quarter were £694m, up from £638m in the same period past year.

BT said it will make up to £129m available to local authorities to reinvest in superfast broadband projects. Four out of five UK homes and businesses can access it and 4.6m are now connected. Meanwhile, first-quarter revenue came in at £4.28 billion, also broadly in line with expectations.

Paolo Pescatore, Director, Multiplay and Video at CCS Insight, said that overall, it was a “modest” set of results as BT Consumer continues to stand out with another good quarter of subscriber and revenue growth versus other segments.

Patterson added that the investments the company was making in its business and customer service “are building a strong platform for growth”. Ofcom has said it will consider a split as well as heavier regulation around the quality of service BT offers and the prices it charges in its review.

BT said its results were lifted by an additional 217,000 customers taking its superfast fibre broadband service, while it added 60,000 pay-TV customers, helped by the pending launch of its new programme showing Europe’s premier football competition, the Champions League.

BT Sport average daily audience figures increased 51 per cent, which the telco said was its best performance since launch, reflecting the improvements it had made to the BT TV offering.

The quarter included only three weeks following the unveiling of its European coverage in June.

BT chief executive officer Gavin Patterson commented: “This is an exciting time at BT”. It said the £129m repayment would hit its cash flow over the next few years.