BT revenues and profits fall due to lack of sport

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Revenues and profits fall at BT after coronavirus leads to cancellations of major sporting events

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: | Updated:

Revenues and profits fell at BT after coronavirus led to cancellations of major sporting events. 

With very little action to put on TV, many customers stopped using BT Sport to the same extent, the telecoms group said. 

A boost in demand for better broadband services helped cushion the impact, as millions of families stuck indoors sought faster connections to work and entertain themselves. 

Lockdown misery: With very little action to put on TV, many customers stopped using BT Sport to the same extent

However, it meant BT’s revenues in the three months to June 30 fell 7 per cent to £5.2billion and profits tumbled 13 per cent to £561m. 

The company said complaints about its broadband dropped by 44 per cent compared to the same period last year, hitting an all-time low. 

It is also continuing to ramp up its rollout of cutting-edge fibre broadband services and expects to have connected 4.5m homes and businesses by March. 

Boss Philip Jansen said: ‘Despite Covid-19, BT delivered a relatively resilient set of financial results.’ 

BT said it expected revenues to drop between 5 per cent and 6 per cent during the 2020-21 financial year. 

And the £500m it had already set aside to deal with the controversy over Huawei will cover Government policy requiring the firm to remove the Chinese telecoms giant’s equipment from 5G networks by the end of 2027. 

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