Telecom giant BT Group delivered a strong performance in the final quarter of 2015, as revenue and profit both rose, while the company announced a new corporate structure that will be implemented by April this year. Revenue was up 4.7 per cent this quarter, our best result for more than seven years.
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“BT Global Services also did well with good revenue growth in continental Europe and Asia”. This follows its acquisition of EE, the UK’s leading mobile network operator.
EE customers won’t see any change to their contract or prices for now, as new owner BT confirms the mobile brand will remain. That is great news for our shareholders, our customers and for United Kingdom plc given we will continue to invest and innovate.
Regulator Ofcom is carrying out its first significant review of the telecoms sector for a decade, and is considering options including a split of BT networks business Openreach.
Meanwhile, the rest of EE will retain its branding and focus on the consumer market, its network and high street stores.
Through its consumer division, BT will continue to serve 10 million households in the United Kingdom with broadband, telephony, TV and mobile services.
“I’m delighted we have now completed our acquisition of EE”, commented BT group chief executive Gavin Patterson.
The new structure of the company will include six lines of business: Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.
Business and Public Sector is a new business unit with around £5 billion of revenues.
BT’s boss has hit back at a report by United Kingdom lawmakers suggesting the company should be forced to sell off its network and broadband infrastructure business, Openreach, saying the move could create “huge instability”.
BT Business and Public Sector, headed by Graham Sutherland, will focus on United Kingdom corporate and SMB accounts, while BT Global Services will focus on multinationals and financial institutions based in the United Kingdom and overseas as well as major private and public sector customers outside the UK.
The acquisition of EE completes a transformation of BT from a staid former fixed-line monopoly into an aggressive competitor in television content, where it is taking on Sky to secure expensive live soccer rights, as well as in superfast fibre broadband.
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The numbers were comfortably towards the top end of analysts’ forecasts and BT shares rose 13.15p, or 3% to 498p. “The UK is poised to take the important journey from superfast to ultrafast broadband and BT is well placed to lead the charge”, said Patterson.
