Financial Times

BT IN DRIVE TO QUICKEN BROADBAND ROLLOUT

BT reported revenue of GBP5 billion for the quarter ended September 30. Pre-tax profit was up 48 percent from sustained cost cutting, to GBP406 million. First-half profit increased by 43 percent to GBP781 million. The company raised its forecast for full-year EBITDA from GBP5.6 billion to GBP5.8 billion. “We are going in the right direction,” CEO Ian Livingston said in an interview with the Financial Times, in which he emphasized the company’s interest in extending high-speed broadband in rural areas. “We think we could get to over 90 percent of the UK. 2017 is not an unrealistic timescale,” he said. That effort, however, relies on securing up to GBP830 million in public funding. Livingston also highlighted a continued recovery at BT’s lossmaking global services arm that provides telecom and IT services to governments and global corporations.