NEWS RELEASE - NORTHERN IRELAND    DC14-207

BT IRELAND REVENUE UP 2% IN 2013/14

- Increase in fibre broadband uptake in Northern Ireland and continued success in major managed services contracts supports BT Ireland’s performance

Belfast, Thursday 8th May 2014: BT Ireland today announced the results of its all-island operation for the year to 31st March 2014.  Revenue of £661.6m was up 2% year on year excluding transit revenue and the impact of foreign exchange movements.  Profit (EBITDA*) was down 5% year on year as a result of once off costs associated with the provision of new managed services contracts and restructuring costs within the business.

Colm O’Neill, chief executive, BT Ireland said, “Our full year results reflect our continued growth in the Northern Ireland market as demand for high speed fibre broadband increases. We delivered several large projects including NI Direct, while in the Republic of Ireland, the addition of a number of new global multi-national and indigenous exporting customers contributed to the overall Ireland performance. In turn, we continued to manage our costs carefully and invested in our network to enhance our service and better support our customers.”

Network investment included extending the rollout of Northern Ireland’s fibre broadband network under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s Broadband Improvement Project. Currently, over 90% of Northern Ireland premises are connected to a fibre-enabled cabinet, and in delivering the current project, BT will be offering improved broadband speeds to over 45,000 additional premises by December 2015, in some of Northern Ireland’s most challenging and rural locations.

Colm O’ Neill continues “The delivery of the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project, once complete, will again put Northern Ireland ahead of the rest of the UK, Ireland and most major European countries for availability of fibre broadband technology. This could significantly benefit the region’s continued economic growth, but is dependent on the take up of the technology which I’m pleased to say is continuing to grow steadily, with over 175,000 customers now enjoying the many benefits of high speed internet access.”

Across Northern Ireland and Great Britain, BT Consumer generated revenue growth of 4% with this strong performance driven primarily by higher broadband and TV revenue reflecting the benefit of BT Sport.  BT now has around 3 million direct BT Sport customers and, including wholesale deals, the service is in around 5 million homes.

A number of successful contract wins, and the expansion of BT’s network enabled services portfolio, supported revenue growth for BT’s business division in Northern Ireland. Amongst the contracts secured within the year were a new managed services contract with NI Water and a contract with the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust to provide communication services in partnership with the Trust under the Voice and Data Communications Partnership contract.

In addition, the BT Ireland team picked up a number of top industry partner accolades including three Cisco awards –Gold Partner of the Year in Ireland; UK and Ireland Enterprise Partner of the Year and Global EMEAR Partner of the Year. BT Ireland was also recognised as Avaya’s Partner of the Year for the second consecutive year.

In January 2014 BT delivered the largest and most successful BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition to date as it celebrated its 50th year. The milestone event, which is BT’s largest corporate responsibility initiative on the island of Ireland and a core component of its Better Future programme, attracted almost 50,000 visitors over three days to the RDS and showcased 550 projects from students across both the Republic and North of Ireland.

Ends

Notes to Editor:*EBITDA: Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation.

For more information please contact:Gina Kelly, PR, Sponsorship & Events Manager, BT IrelandTel: 00 353 86 780 5451Email: gina.kelly@bt.com

To view the BT Group plc results for the fourth quarter and year to 31st March 2014, click on the following link:  http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=B37789AB-6AE4-4DBF-861D-EF6F8E07F8E0

About BTBT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.For more information, visit www.btplc.com