EE Q1 down as BT takeover nears
April 28, 2015
EE, the UK’s biggest mobile phone operator, saw its operating revenue decline 1.1 per cent to £1.469 billion in the first quarter. The drop follows a 1.4 per cent fall in operating revenue in 2014.
BT is due to acquire EE as soon as the £12.5 billion deal receives regulatory approval. BT will buy out all of Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s EE shares.
EE has 31 million customers, of whom 24.5 million are direct mobile customers. EE has focused on expanding its 4G coverage across Europe and is now the continent’s largest 4G operator. The company added 1.7 million 4G customers in the first three months of the year. EE has 9.3 million 4G customers and is “firmly on track to reach our target of 14 million 4G customers by year-end,” the company in a statement.
Both EE and BT customers will benefit from the takeover, according to EE boss Olaf Swantee. ”Customers will be able to get better deals because when they can buy four products, instead of one or two, from the same company they will get significantly better deals,” he said.