As of the end of March 2007, BT was serving 10.7 million wholesale broadband connections (DSL and LLU), including 1.9 million local loop unbundled lines, an increase of 2.6 million connections year on year and 763,000 connections in the quarter. BT Retail's share of the net additions in the quarter was 32 percent.
BT Retail added 245,000 customers in Q1, in addition to the 195,000 customers gained through BT's recent acquisition of PlusNet. BT had 32 percent of new DSL customers, and 29 percent of all new broadband customers during the last quarter. The company said it is now the UK's leading broadband provider, ahead of the combined customer base of Virgin Media and NTL.
Some additional highlights for the quarter:
- VoIP services continued to grow strongly with 1.4 million registered customers at March 31.
- Financially, BT's revenue was 3 percent higher at 5,292 million pounds in the quarter with continued strong growth in new wave revenue more than offsetting the decline in traditional revenue. The strong growth in new wave revenue continued and at 2,117 million pounds was 14 percent higher than last year.
- New wave revenue is mainly generated from networked IT services and broadband and accounted for 40 percent of the group's revenue. Networked IT services revenue grew by 6 percent to 1,287 million pounds, and broadband revenue increased by 32 percent to 556 million pounds.
- Consumer revenue in the fourth quarter was 1 per cent lower, continuing the improving trend of recent quarters. Growth in consumer new wave revenue of 29 per cent continues to reduce our dependence on traditional revenue, which has declined by 6 per cent with the strategic shift towards new wave products and services.
- The 12 month rolling average revenue per consumer household increased by 4 pounds for the second consecutive quarter to 262 pounds. Increased penetration of broadband and the growth of value added propositions have more than offset the lower call revenues. Following a period of sustained growth, the proportion of contracted revenues remained at 68 per cent as a result of the reductions in package prices made during the year.
