BT profit up, 30,000 more for Vision
May 12, 2011
BT reported a 71 per cent rise in profits after more than £1 billion (€1.146bn) of cost savings helped it overcome a four per cent drop in revenues.
The bigger-than-expected improvement in full-year profits to £1.7 billion was helped by continued success in broadband. BT said 252,000 customers were added by companies using BT’s network, such as Sky or TalkTalk, of which 64 per cent signed up with BT.
The telco also reported that it added 30,000 subscribers to its IPTV service ‘BT Vision’ in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total to 575,000 customers. BT added that it is continuing to enhance the service, with BBC iPlayer being currently rolled out to subscriber set-top boxes, and faster HD downloads now available.
BT also reached 144,000 subscribers for its new high-speed fibre-based broadband service ‘BT Infinity’, with additions currently running at an average of around 5,000 per week. The company reports that in areas where it is available, almost half of new broadband customers are now opting for BT Infinity.