BT said its capital expenditure (Capex) rose 5 percent to £1.969 billion in the first half of fiscal 2020-21, primarily driven by fixed and mobile network investment.
BT is targeting capital expenditure of between £4.0 billion and £4.3 billion during the current financial year.
BT’s capital expenditure for network investment rose 9 percent to £1.098 billion — driven by higher fixed network and mobile network spend, continued investment in FTTP deployment and the mobile network.
BT decreased its spending in core network. BT said other capital expenditure components were down 1 percent with £455 million spent on customer-driven investments, £364 million on systems and IT, and £52 million spent on non-network infrastructure.
BT said its 5G ready customer base has increased to over 1 million and 5G is now live in 112 UK towns and cities, more than any other operator.
During Q2 EE launched the exclusive ‘Full Works Plan for iPhone’ where customers receive inclusive access to Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, in one mobile plan.
In Q2 BT’s FTTP broadband customer base grew by 86k to 598k, its largest quarterly increase to date.
Nearly 40 percent of BT broadband customers are on converged BT Halo product. Online live streams (web and app-based) for BT Sport were at their highest ever level in August 2020 during a busy month for BT Sport driven by the UEFA Champions League Finals.
BT revenue fell 8 percent to £10.590 billion, primarily due to the impact of Covid-19 including reduced BT Sport revenue and a reduction in business activity in our enterprise units, and declines in legacy products.
