Just as its rivals in the UK broadband market hit major financial and regulatory headwinds that could seriously affect their ability to roll out gigabit infrastructure across the UK, the country’s leading comms provider BT has published first-half results claiming record demand for full-fibre networks at its Openreach division.
For the six months to 30 September 2026, BT posted revenue of £8.8bn, up 1% annually, driven by higher handset revenues in the company’s consumer division, though this figure was partially offset by declines in adjusted service revenue. Adjusted service revenue was £7.7bn, down 1% year-on-year, affected by a continued drag from voice services of one percentage point.
These revenues were the basis of adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of £4.1bn, inching up by 1% compared with a year earlier, driven by lower staff costs and wider cost transformation benefits. This, said BT, more than offset the voice decline. Reported profit before tax climbed strongly, up 12% annually to £1.1bn, steered by lower restructuring costs and Ebitda flow-through.
Interestingly, despite the increased fibre footprint, capital expenditure in the half year fell by 5% compared with the same period 12 months ago to £2.3bn, reflecting lower build activity. Cash generated from continuing operations was £2.6bn, down 10% annually, and normalised free cash flow was £0.2bn, tumbling by 59%. This was said to reflect a higher cash outflow from working capital and working capital programmes.
High among the highlights of the half year was record customer demand for Openreach fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connectivity, with more than 1.1 million net adds in the half year. In all, 9.9 million premises are connected, over half of the company’s broadband subscriptions, bringing BT’s take-up rate to 41%. BT noted that the 10 million connections mark was passed in October 2026.
BT’s overall FTTP footprint increased to 24.1 million, with 1.2 million premises passed in the six-month period. BT now expects to reach its 25 million build target in March 2027. There was also record retail FTTP base growth in the first half, with subscribers in the consumer division up by 574,000 to 4.7 million and the business division up by 40,000 to 400,000, taking FTTP to 54% of the broadband base.
However, BT also saw 175,000 Openreach broadband line losses in the second quarter of the year and 366,000 for the six months. BT expects these losses to grow to around 800,000 for the full fiscal year.
In the mobile domain, BT’s EE network saw its 5G+ population coverage rise to 81%, up from 73% in March.
Commenting on what she said were strong half-year results, BT chief executive Allison Kirkby said: “We are building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting and protecting the country like no one else, while accelerating our transformation as we create a better BT for all of us. Openreach achieved record full-fibre demand … BT and EE have been recognised as the UK’s best broadband and mobile networks … and our growing order book in business is supported by leadership in secure and sovereign connectivity solutions.”
Looking forward, BT said it was reiterating its mid-term guidance, including normalised free cash flow of around £3bn by the end of the decade. For this fiscal year, it is on track to deliver normalised free cash flow of circa £2bn, excluding the effects of its recently announced acquisition of comms firm TalkTalk.
