BT Group has reported a significant acceleration in its Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) build rate, reaching 73,000 premises per week in the December 2023 quarter, achieving a record of 950,000 premises passed. FTTP’s footprint is currently expanding in coverage. 13 million facilities, with another 6 million added during the initial construction phase.
Openreach, a division of BT Group, experienced strong customer demand for FTTP, with a net increase of 432,000 connections in the third quarter. The total number of connected facilities now stands at 4.4 million, reflecting his 34% increase in utilization.
Openreach’s average revenue per broadband user (ARPU) grew 10% year-on-year, driven by both price increases and FTTP volume growth. However, broadband line losses have reached 369,000 year-to-date, indicating a 2% decline in the broadband base. Continued challenges in broadband market conditions are expected to result in more than 400,000 losses in FY24.
In consumer, broadband ARPU increased 5% year-over-year and consumer postpaid mobile ARPU increased 8% year-over-year. Despite the competitive market, monthly churn rates were stable at 1.1% for broadband and 1.2% for postpaid mobile during the quarter.
BT Group’s business segments continued to deal with higher input costs, legacy declines and one-off charges from the prior year. However, these challenges were partially offset by cost transformation efforts and growth in small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and security.
Retail FTTP base increased 46% to 2.4 million. The breakdown is 2.3 million for the consumer sector and 100,000 for the business sector. 5G base also increased by 30%, totaling 10.3 million. EE, part of the BT Group, has been recognized as the UK’s best mobile network for the 21st time in a row by RootMetrics.
BT Group’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) was 25.7, an increase of 3.6 points, indicating an improved customer experience.
Commenting on the results, Alison Kirkby, CEO of BT Group, said: “BT Group is rapidly building out and upgrading customers to our full-fiber broadband and 5G networks, while also We achieved a quarter of the revenue and EBITDA growth.”
BT expects to receive £7.463 billion (up 4%) from its consumer division, £6.127 billion from its business division and £4.574 billion (up 7%) from its Openreach division between October and December 2023. , reported revenue of £15.758 billion (up 3%).
