BT Update – Openreach Lose 192K UK Broadband Lines as FTTP Covers 23.4M

Telecoms giant BT Group just published a short trading update to the end June 2026, which reveals that Openreach lost a total of 192,000 broadband lines to rivals over the past quarter (improved from -203k last quarter). But their “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage grew to 23.4 million premises (up from 23m) and EE’s 5G+ mobile coverage reached 77% of the UK population.

Just for a little context. 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 they added 514,000 FTTP broadband lines to their network coverage in the last quarter, which is sharply down on the c. 1 million premises they’ve previously been adding on a quarterly basis. But this is to be expected as the network operator is now past their roll-out peak and will be in a gradual ramp-down phase.

The key question is how much further they will build past their December 2026 target, since the 30m figure remains an ambition and we’ve yet to see a solid build plan for going dramatically beyond 25-26m. On top of that Openreach also reported that some 574,000 customers had joined their FTTP network in the last quarter (total premises connected 9.4 million), which has pushed their take-up rate higher again to touch an impressive 40% (up from 38.27% last quarter).

Otherwise, on those broadband line losses, Openreach has previously stated that the vast majority 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. The operator still expects to lose c.800,000 lines across the coming year (down from 825,000 last year).

However, despite the challenges, BT’s bosses will probably feel confident of the operator’s direction, particularly after having succeeded in getting the stock market to better recognise the value of the fibre they now have in the ground. The group’s share price has gone from around 140p in January 2025 to 196p now, albeit wobbling a bit during the year.

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 75,000+ (i.e. some 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 usually grows faster once the roll-out pace slows). BT also holds a target of 13.0-14.5 million retail 5G mobile connections via EE.

BT Group’s Performance Summary

➤ FTTP footprint increased to 23.4m, an increase of 514k in the quarter, on track to achieve our 25m FTTP build target by December 2026

➤ Record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with 574k net adds in the quarter; total premises connected 9.4m, bringing our market – leading take-up rate to 40%; Openreach broadband ARPU grew by 7% to £17.7, driven by higher FTTP take-up, speed mix and price increases

➤ Openreach broadband lines fell by 192k; we continue to expect losses of c. 800k in the year

➤ EE maintained its mobile leadership, winning P3’s Test Champion Award and topping the Reliability, Coverage and Performance categories; 5G+ population coverage rose to 77%, up from 73% last quarter

➤ Record retail FTTP base growth, up 1.1m year-on-year to 4.8m, comprising 4.5m Consumer connections (54% of the broadband base) and 0.3m Business connections

➤ Continued Consumer customer growth, up 1k in broadband, 13k in postpaid mobile and 9k in TV. Both our broadband and postpaid mobile churn remained stable year-on-year at 1.1% and 1.0% respectively despite competition as our fibre-first strategy continues to deliver

➤ Consumer ARPU of £40.9 in broadband, down 2% year-on-year primarily due to declines in voice; £19.7 in postpaid mobile, up 2% year-on-year; Consumer fixed and mobile convergence increased to 26.8% from 26.6% last quarter and 25.5% last year; EE One Up rewards programme launched

➤ Business service revenue stabilising, with strong sales order growth including new connectivity contracts signed with Scottish Water and Royal Mail

➤ International JV with Verizon announced combining our operations to create a stronger scaled global connectivity business and marking a significant milestone in delivering BT Group’s UK-focused strategy

➤ Cost transformation delivered efficiencies across all units, with year-on-year reductions in network energy usage of 8%, total labour resource excluding International of 8% to 94k and in Openreach repair volumes of 21%

➤ BT Group NPS increased to 30.7, up 3.6pts year-on-year, rebased for the exclusion of International

➤ Revenue £4.3bn, flat year-on-year. Adjusted UK service revenue £3.8bn down 1%, as growth in broadband and Corporate and Public Sector in Business and customer base growth in Consumer were offset by declines in voice

➤ Adjusted EBITDA £2.0bn, down 1% year-on-year and broadly flat excluding the impact of prior year one-offs, with lower broadband and voice margins offsetting strong cost transformation

➤ Reported profit before tax of £505m, down 4% driven by higher finance costs offset by lower restructuring costs

BT’s CEO, Allison Kirkby, said:

“BT has made a solid start to the year. We are connecting more customers to our next-generation networks, and are increasingly the choice for mission-critical solutions, as we connect and protect the country and accelerate our transformation.

Across Openreach and Consumer we achieved record new full fibre connections and take-up, resulting in fibre contributing to more than half of our broadband revenues for the first time. By investing in all our brands, and the services they offer, we’re continuing to grow our Consumer customer base. In Business, service revenue is stabilising, with excellent sales order growth from major customers. In this final year of the legacy landline network, our service revenue, excluding voice, grew in the quarter.

We expanded 5G+ further to now reach 77% of the UK population and our full fibre build is on track to reach 25 million premises by the end of December. Internationally, our proposed joint venture with Verizon will create a scaled global connectivity platform and allow us to focus on our transformation in the UK.

No-one is upgrading and investing in the country’s digital backbone at the scale and pace that BT is. We remain on track to deliver our targets, including cash flow of c£2.0bn this year and c£3.0bn by the end of the decade – as we create a better BT, for all of us.”

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.