BT Group sales slip despite record full-fibre customer demand
BT Group sales slip despite record full-fibre customer demand
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BT Group revenues fell in the final three months of 2024 despite record customer demand in its Openreach arm. The telecoms business added a net 472,000 customers to its full-fibre network during its financial third quarter, taking the overall number of connected premises to 6 million.
It also expanded the network to over one million premises for the fourth successive quarter, meaning Openreach's fibre-to-the-premises footprint now covers over half of the UK. However, Openreach's broadband lines fell by 208,000, which the group mostly blamed on rivals gaining customers in areas where the segment has not yet rolled out FTTP technology.
And while Openreach's adjusted revenue tipped up by £12million to £1.5billion, BT's total turnover fell by 3 per cent to £5.2billion amid challenging trading conditions outside the UK and lower handset demand in its consumer arm. But adjusted earnings before nasties rose by 4 per cent to £2.1billion thanks partly to cost-saving measures like job cuts, and by £113million to £6.2billion in the opening nine months of the financial year.
Connecting well: Telecoms giant BT Group added a record net 472,000 customers to its full-fibre network in the third quarter. BT intends to reduce its workforce to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030 as part of a radical plan spearheaded by its chief executive, Allison Kirkby, to save billions of pounds and turn around the highly-indebted business.
