Page 23 - SAMENA Trends - May 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

BT Reportedly Exploring Sale of Stake in

Openreach

British fixed line incumbent BT has reportedly begun talks with
interested parties over a possible sale of a stake in its network
unit, Openreach. According to The Financial Times, which cites
three unnamed sources with knowledge of the discussions, talks
are said to be at an early stage, while the mechanism by which
any investor would acquire a holding in Openreach is also said to
be under consideration. Potential buyers are reported to include
Australia’s Macquarie Group and an unidentified sovereign wealth
fund, although Reuters separately cited sources close to the
Australian fund as saying it had not expressed interest Openreach
and was not in talks with its management. It has been suggested
that the sale of a stake in Openreach could help generate funding
for BT’s planned rollout of fiber to homes and businesses across
the UK, which is expected to cost it around GBP12 billion (USD14.7
billion). As previously reported by CommsUpdate, earlier this aims to pass 20 million premises with the technology by ‘the mid-
month the operator announced plans for a ‘rapid acceleration’ of to late-2020s’.
its ongoing fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) rollout, saying it now

BT Announces ‘Rapid Acceleration’ of FTTP Build Plans as It Publishes Full
Year Results

British fixed line incumbent BT has
announced plans for a ‘rapid acceleration’
of its ongoing fiber-to-the-premises
(FTTP) rollout, saying it now aims to pass
20 million premises with the technology
by ‘the mid- to late-2020s’. Revealing the
scaled-up plans in the publication of its
financial results for the year ended 31 March
2020, BT confirmed that its existing FTTP
footprint extended to 2.575 million homes
and businesses across the UK at that
date, up from 1.247 million a year earlier.
It noted that around 32,000 premises are
being passed with fiber each week, while
in terms of its future deployment plans
CEO Philip Jansen said that BT aims to
add more than two million premises to the
coverage area in the year to March 2021, full year 2019/20, the British operator telco’s transformation programmes. BT
and ultimately envisages a maximum build reported total revenues of GBP22.905 meanwhile had a reported net profit of
rate of three million premises per year. billion (USD28.4 billion), down 2% year- GBP1.734 billion for FY 2019/20, down
Further, the executive stated that there will on-year, with it saying the drop mainly from GBP2.159 billion a year earlier.
be a ‘significant’ rollout of FTTP in rural reflected ‘the impact of regulation, declines Capital expenditures in the twelve-month
areas. In the wireless arena, meanwhile, BT in legacy products, strategic reductions in period stood at GBP3.960 billion, almost
confirmed that mobile subsidiary EE is now low margin business and divestments’. unchanged against the previous financial
offering 5G connectivity in 80 cities and Adjusted EBITDA for the financial year year (GBP3.963 billion). Looking ahead, BT
large towns across the country. According under review totaled GBP7.907 billion, said it was opting not to provide a financial
to the company it aims to double this down 3%, with lower revenue and outlook statement for 2020/21, ‘given the
figure by March 2021, albeit subject to ‘investment in customer experience’ uncertainty created by COVID-19’.
what it terms ‘the right conditions’. In its partly offset by cost savings from the

23 MAY 2020