BT Group has revealed its financial result – Capex, Opex, revenue, , 5G coverage, fiber investment and ARPU – during January-March quarter of 2024.
BT Group’s Capex fell 3 percent to £4.9 billion during fiscal 2024 primarily driven by lower networks spend despite higher FTTP build in the year due to reduced unit costs and efficiencies. BT reported cash Capex of £5.0 billion (down 6 percent).
BT says capital expenditure will remain at less than £4.8 billion until FY26 before reducing by c.£1 billion post peak FTTP build.
BT’s FTTP base increased 683,000 during the year; up 18 percent. BT’s FTTP base has reached 2.4 million. BT’s 5G connected base reached 9.5 million.
BT said FTTP build rate accelerated to 1.0 million premises passed in the quarter, a record 78,000 per week. FTTP footprint has reached 14 million premises with a further 6 million where initial build is underway. BT is aiming to reach 25 million premises for its FTTP business by December 2026.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has notified Openreach of its preferred bidder status for Project Gigabit cross-regional supplier contract. Openreach has added 397,000 FTTP customers in Q4. Openreach’s FTTP has connected over 4.8 million premises.
BT said 5G UK population coverage increased to 75 percent and 5G retail connections increased by 2.4 million to 11.1 million. BT is aiming to achieve 98 percent 5G coverage with 5G retail connections of 13 million – 14.5 million.
Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive Officer of BT, said: “Having passed peak Capex on our full fibre broadband rollout and achieved our £3 billion cost and service transformation programme a year ahead of schedule, we’ve now reached the inflection point on our long-term strategy.”
REVENUE
BT reported revenue £20.8 billion (up 1 percent) due to price increases and fibre-enabled product sales in Openreach, increased service revenue in Consumer with annual contractual price rises being aided by higher roaming and increased FTTP connections, partly offset by legacy product declines and a one-off revenue adjustment in Business.
ARPU
Openreach broadband ARPU in FY24 grew by 10 percent to £15.1 due to price rises and increased volumes and mix of FTTP.
Consumer broadband ARPU in FY24 increased 5 percent to £41.2. Consumer postpaid mobile ARPU increased 9 percent to £19.4. BT said monthly churn for the year remained stable in a competitive market with broadband and postpaid mobile both at 1.1 percent.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
