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Telecoms giant BT Group just published a short trading update to the end June 2025 (Q1 FY26), which reveals that Openreach lost another 169,000 total broadband lines to rival networks over the past quarter (down from 243k in the previous quarter). But they also saw their “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage grow to over 19 million premises (up by 1m) and take-up increased to 37% (up from 36.13%).
Firstly, our usual reminder that the BT Group now only publishes a short trading update during calendar Q1 and Q3, thus we only get a very limited summary this time around – the full half-yearly 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, BT today announced that Simon Lowth will retire as their Group CFO, with Patricia Cobian appointed as successor. Patrician is currently still Virgin Media and O2’s (VMO2) chief financial officer (since 2021), but has now been poached by the BT Group. She will thus join the BT Group Board and its Executive Committee in the summer of next year (2026).
Otherwise, on those broadband line losses, at the start of 2025 Openreach noted that around 80% of those had come from areas where they haven’t yet deployed their new FTTP network (i.e. copper-based ADSL and hybrid fibre FTTC broadband and phone-only lines). This underlines the importance of Openreach’s rapid roll-out, but it also highlights the importance of a first-mover advantage for altnets in targeting those areas.
However, despite the negatives, BT’s CEO can probably still feel reasonably confident of the operator’s direction, particularly after having somewhat succeeded in getting the stock market to better recognise the value of the fibre they now have in the ground (here and here). The group’s share price has gone from around 140p in January 2025 to around 200p this morning.
Nevertheless, there’s still a long way to go, and many uncertainties remain about how today’s market will evolve over the next few years, particularly with respect to consolidation. But the relative fibre build stagnation among many altnets and Virgin Media’s (O2) unexpected build slowdown (here) does tend to give BT more of an edge than they’ve had for a while.
BT’s CEO, Allison Kirkby, said:
“BT has had a solid start to the year, with our full fibre broadband now reaching more than 19 million homes and businesses and our 5G network available to over 87% of the UK population. We’re seeing strong customer demand for our next-generation broadband and mobile connectivity across all our brands, with record Openreach fibre take-up again this quarter. And we’re delivering on our transformation, as we radically simplify our business while improving customer experience.
BT is investing more than anyone else in the nation’s networks, we’re connecting customers faster, and we’re on track to deliver our targets for this year, next year, and the end of the decade – creating a better BT, for all of us.”
As usual, it’s worth contrasting the latest 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, and today’s update reports that they’ve already reached 13.5m, up 12% year-on-year.
BT Group’s June 2025 Performance Summary
➤ More than 1m premises passed with FTTP for a sixth consecutive quarter, at an average build rate of 81k per week, on track to achieve up to 5m this fiscal year; FTTP footprint reached more than 19m premises, of which 5.2m in rural locations
➤ Record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with net adds up 46% year-on-year to 566k; total premises connected 7.1m, increasing our market-leading take up rate to 37%; Hyperoptic has entered into a wholesale agreement with Openreach, further extending its national footprint; Openreach broadband ARPU up 4% to £16.6, driven by higher FTTP take-up, speed mix and price increases
➤ Openreach broadband lines fell by 169k, driven by losses to competitors and a weaker broadband market; our full year expectation remains unchanged from that given in May
➤ Retail FTTP base grew by 32% year-on-year to 3.7m of which Consumer 3.4m and Business 0.3m; 5G base reached 13.5m, up 12% year-on-year
➤ Consumer customer base grew in the quarter, with broadband base up 11k and postpaid mobile base up 41k; Consumer broadband ARPU2 down 2% year-on-year to £41.9 and postpaid mobile ARPU2 of £19.4 broadly flat year-on-year, and we continue to expect a similar seasonal growth pattern as FY25; Consumer fixed and mobile convergence grew to 25.5% from 24.6% last quarter; EE proud to be sponsors of the Lionesses as they head towards the UEFA Euro 2025 final
➤ Business adjusted UK service revenue down 2%, stable excluding traditional voice; EBITDA pressure was mainly in the international segment; Business will be reported as two separate customer-facing units from Q2 FY26 for our UK and International operations
➤ Cost transformation delivered efficiencies across all units, fully offsetting higher employer costs of National Living Wage and National Insurance: year-on-year energy usage in our networks was down 5%, total labour resource was down 5% to 113k and Openreach repair volumes were down 14%
➤ BT Group NPS of 30.4, up 5.6pts year-on-year, with improved customer experience across all our customer facing units
On track to achieve full year guidance:
➤ Reported and adjusted revenue1 £4.9bn, down 3% year-on-year mainly due to weaker handset sales in Consumer and continued challenging international trading, offsetting the benefit of FTTP growth in Openreach and price increases; Adjusted UK service revenue1 £3.9bn, down 1%, largely due to the seasonal impact of price changes in Consumer and traditional voice in Business
➤ Adjusted EBITDA1 £2.1bn, down 1% with adverse revenue offset by strong cost transformation
➤ Reported profit before tax of £468m, down 10% primarily due to an increase in net finance costs and depreciation and amortisation