Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive Officer, commenting on the results, said:
"These are good results, with growth in earnings per share and free cash flow.
"This has been our strongest ever quarter for fibre take-up with Openreach net connections up 70%. Our fibre network now passes more than 17 million premises. It is open to all and many other service providers have now got behind it.
"BT Sport has made a confident start and is already delivering for viewers. More than two million of our customers are signed up to it and our wholesale contract with Virgin Media means it is available to around four million homes in total. It is also delivering for the business, helping us achieve a record 93% share4 of broadband net adds in the quarter, our lowest line losses for five years and 4% revenue growth in our BT Retail Consumer business.
"BT Retail's Business division again saw good growth in IT services while BT Global Services and BT Wholesale both generated strong order books.
"I feel privileged to be the new CEO of BT and am determined to build on the strong foundations that are already in place. These are exciting times for the company and we are determined to deliver our strategy with energy and discipline."
Financial highlights for the second quarter:
Key revenue measure down 0.5% compared with a 5.5% decline in the prior year
EBITDA decline reflects the expected BT Sport investment
Efficiencies from cost transformation programmes running at a faster pace than in the first quarter
Profit before tax and earnings per share up 2%
Interim dividend up 13% to 3.4p
Outlook reaffirmed
