BT Ireland Revenues up 4% in 2012/13

BT today announced the results for its all-Ireland operation for the full year to 31st March 2013. Revenue of £739.9 million* was up 4% year on year excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Profit (EBITDA**) was flat year on year, as a result of investment in the delivery of several large retail and wholesale contracts offset by continued cost transformation initiatives.

Colm O’Neill, Chief Executive, BT Ireland said,

We have delivered a solid year of growth in revenues and maintained profit and cash flow in a challenging economic environment.
We continue to manage our cost base carefully, while making investments in the future of our business to support our customers and to improve our service. Our track record in delivery, our unique combination of network and IT services capabilities, and the value for money delivered through our services, are BT’s key differentiators in the Irish market.

BT Ireland’s Wholesale division had a strong performance in the Republic of Ireland, despite the ongoing impact of regulated mobile termination rates and market consolidation. Our Wholesale division is providing network services to over 50 communications companies and we are now the second largest fixed line provider in the Irish market (ComReg Q2 2012). Significant investment in network infrastructure is underpinning growth opportunities, in particular our nationwide roll-outs of Total Transmission (an advanced next-generation fibre network) and Local Loop Unbundling (88 telephone exchanges completed, with a footprint of over 900,000 lines). Key wholesale contracts signed during the year include Sky Ireland, AirSpeed Telecom and UTV.

Despite the tough conditions and the continued market trend towards lower contract order values and longer lead times, our Business division increased revenues year on year. In particular, the company made good progress in the public sector, in both Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland, using its successful track record in providing best-in-class technologies for better value. BT also recorded double-digit revenue growth in IT services for the fourth year running, and was awarded the top Ireland partner of the year award by three leading industry brands – Avaya, Cisco and EMC. Amongst the contracts signed by BT in the year were: Allianz, Bank of Ireland, Irish Life, the Department of Justice and Equality and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.

A strong performance by the BT Ireland Consumer division, which operates in Northern Ireland, impacted positively on revenue generation in the year. Take-up of fixed line services among Northern Ireland consumers increased, driven by the reliability and benefits of high-speed fibre broadband. More than half of all BT’s broadband customers have now selected a fibre broadband service.

In the year BT enhanced its product offerings for consumer customers, introducing YouView from BT, as well as adding free Cloud, Wi-Fi and SmartTalk services to its Totally Unlimited Broadband product. Demand for BT’s broadband services in 2013 is expected to benefit from the upcoming launch of BT Sport.

BT successfully delivered the 2013 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in January, its best yet, and has recently renewed its commitment to the exhibition until at least 2016.