`New wave' business boosts BT
Telecoms giant BT today said an acceleration in revenues from “new wave” technology had cushioned the impact of a decline in its traditional fixed-line business.
Turnover from services such as high-speed broadband access and voice data technology improved by 38% in the first three months of 2004 – faster than the 31% growth in the previous quarter.
This helped BT post a 10% increase in underlying pre-tax profits to £2.02bn (€3bn) for the year to March 31.
Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said the results were achieved in a challenging environment which was expected to continue in the current financial year.
“The results from our new wave businesses show our strategy is working,” he said.
Group turnover was flat at £18.52bn (€27.5bn) after stripping out the impact of a cut in termination rates – the price that mobile phone firms charge each other and landline operators for putting callers through to their customers.
Net debt – which once hit £30bn (€44.5bn) – was lowered by 12% during the year to £8.43bn (€12.5bn).
The results come a week after BT announced it was cutting its prices to wholesalers in an effort to head off possible regulatory intervention.
It means rival telecoms group can now access local telephone exchanges more cheaply and could spark a price war in sales of broadband services.
