BT broadband booming as fibre fires up

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BT has seen a sharp uptake in its broadband services with 114,000 customers added in the third quarter, while fibre adoption is accelerating.

However, even though over 4,000 new customers are now signing up to Infinity per week, just 38,000 have bought into BT's fibre service so far.

This is despite the fact that over three million premises could take advantage.

Nevertheless, a BT spokesman was buoyant about uptake so far, particularly when compared to Virgin Media's fibre customer base.

The spokesman said it has taken two years for Virgin to get 90,000 fibre customers signed up, while it has taken BT only six months to reach 38,000.

"We are really, really pleased. We have gone from 600 customers a week when we first started, up to 4,000," he told IT PRO.

"We expect to hit the 90,000 mark in good time. The comparison is looking good from our point of view."

Regardless of fibre uptake, BT had a solid second quarter financially and raised its cash flow and earnings forecast, despite a revenue drop of three per cent.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are now expected to reach around £5.8 billion up from £5.6 billion, while free cash flow is expected to hit £2 billion.

The company saw strong profits as well, with profit before tax rising 48 per cent from the same quarter in 2009, while net debts were pushed down by £1.2 billion.

Global Services order intake did particularly well rising 50 per cent to hit £2.1 billion.

“We have made significant progress in improving profitability and cash flow, enabling us to invest in building the foundations for revenue growth in 2012/13,” said BT chief executive Ian Livingston added.

“We have increased our EBITDA outlook for the year and now expect to hit our £2bn free cash flow target two years early.”

Meanwhile, the ISP wars are revving up. Last month saw Virgin Media announce its 100Mbps broadband service.

BT slammed the pricing of Virgin’s services, which will cost £45 per month as a stand-alone service or £35 when bundled with a phone line.

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