BT Results – Openreach Lose 210k UK Broadband Lines as FTTP Cover Hits 21.4M

Telecoms giant BT Group just published a short trading update to the end December 2025 (Q3 FY26), which reveals that Openreach lost a total of 210,000 broadband lines to rivals over the past quarter (down from 242k in Sept 2025). But their “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage grew to 21.4 million premises (up from 20.3m) and take-up increased to 38% (up from 37.66%).

Firstly, our usual reminder that the BT Group now only publishes a short trading update for Q1 and Q3, thus we only get a very limited summary this time around – the full half-yearly reports come in Q2 and Q4. As such, we’ve opted to do a similarly brief update on the key details below.

In terms of the other headline changes, Openreach noted that some 5.9 million of the premises they’d covered with FTTP were in rural areas and that their full fibre network had now connected a total of 8.2 million premises. Suffice to say that their level of take-up in such a competitive market is still fairly strong and continuing to grow. BT’s own retail FTTP customer base also grew 32% year-on-year to 4.2m.

Otherwise, on those broadband line losses, Openreach has previously stated that around 80% of those usually come from areas where they haven’t yet deployed their new FTTP network (e.g. areas with older ADSL, FTTC broadband or phone-only lines). This underlines the importance of Openreach’s rapid roll-out, but it also highlights the benefits of a first-mover advantage for rival networks in targeting such areas. Openreach said they now expect full year broadband line losses of c.850k for the year, which is said to be “better than our previous estimate“.

However, despite the challenges, BT’s CEO can probably still feel reasonably confident of the operator’s direction, particularly after having somewhat succeeded in getting the stock market to better recognise the value of the fibre they now have in the ground (here and here). The group’s share price has gone from around 140p in January 2025 to around 202p this morning, but this is down from the c.220p peak they saw in July 2025.

As usual, it’s worth contrasting the latest results against BT’s future targets for 2030, which among other things have predicted that their total labour force would shrink to between 75,000 and 90,000 (i.e. many of the engineers they have today won’t be needed post-2030) and FTTP coverage would grow to between 25-30 million premises, while delivering take-up of around 40-55% (this will grow faster once the roll-out pace slows).

BT also holds a target of 13.0-14.5 million retail 5G mobile connections via EE and today’s update reports that this base has already reached 14.3m (up 10% year-on-year), while coverage of their 5G+ (5G Standalone) network reached 69% of the UK’s population.

BT Group’s Dec 2025 Performance Summary

• More than 1m premises passed with FTTP for an eighth consecutive quarter, continuing the fastest build any company has achieved in Europe; FTTP footprint at 21.4m premises, of which 5.9m in rural locations; on track to achieve up to 5m this fiscal year and reach 25m by December 2026

• Record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with net adds of 571k, up 21% year-on-year; total premises connected 8.2m, increasing our market-leading take up rate to over 38%; Openreach broadband ARPU grew 4% to £16.8, driven by higher FTTP take-up, speed mix and price increases

• Openreach broadband lines fell 210k, down quarter-on-quarter and at a similar rate to last year; we now expect full year losses at c.850k for the year, better than our previous estimate

• Retail FTTP base grew 32% year-on-year to 4.2m, of which Consumer 3.9m and Business 0.3m

• UK’s best mobile network for a record 11th consecutive year as awarded by Umlaut Connect, extending EE’s lead over the second placed network; Opensignal placed EE first in 11 of 15 categories in its January report and yesterday RootMetrics named EE the UK’s best network for the 25th time; 5G base reached 14.3m, up 10% year-on-year; 5G+ coverage at 69%

• All Consumer customer bases grew for a fourth consecutive quarter in broadband, up 8k, a third consecutive quarter in postpaid mobile, up 55k, and a sixth consecutive quarter in TV, up 22k

• Consumer service revenue was flat year-on-year and remains on track for growth in H2; Consumer broadband ARPU was down 1% year-on-year to £41.8 and postpaid mobile ARPU was down 1% to £19.2; Consumer fixed and mobile convergence grew to 26.2% from 25.9% last quarter

• Business continues to make progress on its transformation; Q3 year-on-year performance was impacted by contract milestones, mainly in the financial and public sectors and wholesale, as well as the phasing of costs across quarters

• All five targeted disposals in International are now complete with the last, BT Radianz, closing on 1 February; disposals reduced International revenue in the quarter by £45m

• Cost transformation delivered efficiencies across all units, offsetting higher employer costs of National Living Wage and National Insurance; the year to date energy usage in our networks was down 6%, total labour resource was down 7% to 108k and Openreach repair volumes were down 18%

• Record BT Group NPS of 31.4, up 2.1pts year-on-year, demonstrating further improving customer experience

On track to achieve full year guidance:

• Q3 reported and adjusted revenue1 £5.0bn, down 4% year-on-year due to service revenue declines, lower equipment revenue, primarily handset trading, in Consumer and Business and the impact of divestments; Q3 adjusted UK service revenue1 £3.8bn, down 2%, due to the ongoing drag from legacy voice of over one percentage point as well as the phasing of trading in the prior year

• Q3 adjusted EBITDA1 £2.1bn, down 1% and broadly flat excluding the impact of prior year one-off other operating income, with lower revenue offset by continued strong cost transformation

• Q3 reported profit before tax of £183m, down £244m, driven by a £214m share of losses from the Sports JV

• We remain on track for our financial outlook and guidance metrics, including our cash flow inflection to c.£2.0bn next year, and to c.£3.0bn by the end of the decade

BT’s CEO, Allison Kirkby, said:

“BT continues to deliver on its strategy – building and connecting the UK to the best next-generation networks at record pace, while accelerating our transformation. Our network leadership strengthened further in the quarter, with full fibre broadband now reaching more than 21 million homes and businesses, and our 5G+ network accessible to 69% of the population. Openreach achieved record full fibre connections and our Consumer division again added customers in broadband, mobile and TV, as we make the most of all our brilliant brands – EE, BT and Plusnet.

Customer satisfaction reached an all-time high this quarter, and with our transformation building momentum, we are delivering ahead of plan. We remain on track for our financial outlook and guidance metrics for this year, our cash flow inflection to c.£2.0bn next year, and to c.£3.0bn by the end of the decade.”

At the end of the day, there’s still a long way to go, and many uncertainties remain about how today’s market will evolve over the next few years, particularly with respect to consolidation and Ofcom’s looming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR). But the relative fibre build stagnation among many altnets and Virgin Media’s (O2) nexfibre slowdown does perhaps give the BT Group a bit more of an edge than they’ve had for a while, but they’ll need to keep reducing those line losses to rivals.