Telecoms giant BT Group has today published a brief trading update to the end of 2024, which reveals that Openreach added another 1 million premises in the last quarter (unchanged) to the coverage of their full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network (total 17m) and saw related take-up rise by 472k (net adds) to total 6m (stable at 35%). But total broadband lines fell by 208k as rivals continue to bite.
Take note that, since 2023, the BT Group now only publishes a short trading update in calendar Q1 and Q3, thus we only get a very limited summary this time around – the fuller reports come in Q2 and Q4. As such, we’ve opted to do a similarly brief update on the key details below.
In terms of the other headline changes, we seem to get an even thinner update than usual for this period, with no mention of the FTTP build rate etc. But the operator did say, when reflecting on that loss of 208,000 total broadband lines from their base, that over 80% of those line losses “occur where we have not built FTTP” (underlining their need to build quickly).
Just for a quick comparison, Openreach lost 377k broadband lines in their previous half year results (H1 FY25) to Sept 2024, which suggests a slight acceleration in their losses when looking at this last quarter’s figure of 208k. We also get a limited BT Consumer (retail) specific breakdown below.
However, it’s worth contrasting these results against BT’s future targets for 2030, which among other things have predicted that their total labour force would shrink to between 75,000 and 90,000 (i.e. many of the engineers they have today won’t be needed post-2030) and FTTP coverage would grow to between 25-30 million premises, while delivering take-up of around 40-55% (this will grow even faster once the roll-out pace slows).
BT also holds a target of 13.0-14.5 million retail 5G mobile connections via EE, although for some reason the group never seems to issue much data on 5G specific progress in their smaller trading updates.
BT’s CEO, Allison Kirkby, said:
“Our ongoing modernisation continues at pace, delivering a further step-up in fibre build and take-up, customer satisfaction and EBITDA. Benefits from our cost transformation more than offset lower revenue outside the UK and weak handset sales.
Openreach again performed strongly with the highest ever full fibre build, passing more than 1 million premises for the fourth consecutive quarter, and connecting a new record of nearly half a million customers. Consumer returned to service revenue growth and continued to expand its full fibre and 5G customer bases. In Business, our core UK channels were stable. Cost transformation remains firmly on track, with excellent progress on both energy costs and productivity in the quarter.
We continue to make progress towards becoming fully focused on the UK, with the sale of our data centre business in Ireland. I am also very pleased to welcome Jon James to BT’s Executive Committee as the new CEO of a UK-centric BT Business, effective early March. This appointment enables Bas Burger to dedicate his time to the optimisation of our international business segment, which is progressing to plan.
BT’s continued delivery means we remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year and our cash flow inflection to c.£2.0bn in 2027 and c£3.0bn by the end of the decade.”
BT Group’s Dec 2024 Performance Summary
- Record FTTP build rate of over 1m premises passed in the quarter for a fourth consecutive quarter; FTTP footprint reached 17m premises, more than half of the UK; on track to pass 4.2m in FY25 and reach 25m by December 2026
- Record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with net adds of 472k in the quarter; total premises connected 6.0m with a growing take up rate of over 35%. Openreach total broadband lines fell by 208k, as we continue to see moderately higher competitor losses with a weaker overall broadband and new homes market; over 80% of our line losses occur where we have not built FTTP
- Openreach broadband ARPU in the quarter grew year on year by 6% to £16.1, ahead of the CPI price increases, driven by a greater FTTP take-up and speed mix
- Retail FTTP base grew by 33% year on year to 3.2m of which Consumer 3.0m and Business 0.2m
- Consumer service revenue returned to growth, up 0.4% year on year after a 1.3% decline in H1; service revenue growth was more than offset by a 12% decline in equipment revenue, mainly handset trading
- Consumer customer base relatively stable with broadband base down 40k quarter on quarter (0.5% decline); postpaid mobile base down 4k quarter on quarter (<0.1% decline)
- Consumer broadband ARPU down 1.2% year on year to £40.6; Consumer postpaid mobile ARPU up 5.7% year on year to £20.3
- Consumer fixed and mobile convergence grew in the quarter from 23.1% to 23.4%; 5G standalone launched in a further 16 new locations, bringing 5G standalone to over 30 major UK towns and cities; EE was named the winner of the umlaut connect 2025 Mobile Network Test in the UK for a 10th consecutive year
- Business revenues were stable in our core UK channels; £1.3bn contract signed with the Home Office to continue providing mobile services for the Emergency Services Network over the next seven years
- Cost transformation remains on track as we continue to create a simpler BT Group, delivering efficiencies across all units; energy usage in our networks was down 3% in the year-to-date and total labour resource down 3% year-on-year to 117k; we achieved an 11% reduction in year-to-date Openreach repair volumes
- BT Group NPS of 29.6, up 4.0pts during Q3, reflecting ongoing improvements in customer experience
Excellent cost control continues to deliver EBITDA growth:
- Q3 Adjusted revenue £5.2bn, down 3% year-on-year mainly due to continued challenging non-UK trading conditions in our Global and Portfolio channels and weaker handset trading in Consumer, offsetting the impact of FTTP growth in Openreach and price increases. Reported revenue £5.2bn, down 3%
- Q3 Adjusted EBITDA £2.1bn, up 4% driven by strong cost transformation and one-off other operating income in the low tens of millions which more than offset adverse revenue
- Q3 Reported profit before tax of £427m, up 1% primarily due to EBITDA growth, offset partially by increased net finance costs and increased depreciation and amortisation