Broadband sales fail to lift BT

BT said 253,000 customers were added by companies using BT's network in the three months to September 30, nearly double the 169,000 gained last year, and 45 per cent - or 114,000 - of these connected using BT's own broadband service.

The group's broadband television service BT Vision added 24,000 customers in the quarter - an increase of a third - bringing the total to 520,000. But so far only 50,000, less than 10 per cent, have taken up its subscription Sky Sports service, which was made available in August.

The strong growth in broadband and BT Vision was not enough to lift group revenue, which fell by three per cent to 4.98bn as call and landline sales were hit by an increasingly competitive marketplace.

However, underlying pre-tax profits were up 13 per cent at 496m, beating City expectations.

The results prompted BT to raise its forecast for full-year underlying earnings to 5.8bn, up from an expected 5.6bn.