By Paul Sandle
LONDON (Reuters) -BT, Britain’s biggest mobile and broadband operator, added 472,000 connections to its fibre network in its third quarter, a record but not enough to offset a drag from its business unit and lower handset sales.
Revenue fell 3% to 5.18 billion pounds ($6.44 billion) for the three months to Dec. 31, it said on Thursday, missing the 5.24 billion pounds expected by analysts.
Chief Executive Allison Kirkby, however, said lower costs had helped deliver a 4% rise in core earnings to 2.1 billion pounds ($2.61 billion), and she confirmed full-year forecasts.
Shares in BT, which have risen 29% in the last 12 months, fell 3% in early deals.
Kirkby highlighted progress made by BT’s Openreach networks arm in building a national fibre network.
“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,” she said.
Its fibre footprint now covered 17 million premises, it said, and it was on track to reach 25 million by the end of next year.
Kirkby, who became BT’s CEO a year ago, is focusing its business division on Britain and is looking at options for its international activities.
To that end, she appointed Jon James, previously chief executive of Danish telecoms company Nuuday, to lead the division.
Bas Burger, the current boss of the unit, would lead the pull back from its international operations, she said.
BT in November downgraded its forecast for adjusted revenue from flat to a drop of 1-2% for the full year, but it kept its forecast for adjusted core earnings to come in around 8.2 billion pounds and free cash flow at 1.5 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.8039 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle Editing by Sarah Young and Tomasz Janowski)
