Everything Everywhere grows as users turn to smartphones
EVERYTHING Everywhere, the UK’s largest mobile network provider, yesterday reported a strong uptake of smartphones in its first quarter, boosting core growth.
Underlying service revenues, excluding the impact of regulatory cuts, grew by 2.9 per cent in the first quarter to £1.5bn.
But enforced cuts to mobile termination rates – the amount telecoms companies charge each other to host calls on their networks – dragged service revenues down by 2.5 per cent.
The company did not disclose any other financial details but said it remains on track to deliver its targeted £3.5bn of cost savings by 2014.
Everything Everywhere, the parent brand of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, reported the penetration of smartphone users on postpaid contracts rose to 71 per cent from 57 per cent in the same quarter last year.
Data revenues now account for almost half of all income, having jumped 17 per cent to 45.5 per cent.
“This country has a tremendous appetite for data, and we need to have networks that are built from scratch to support it,” chief executive Olaf Swantee, who is pushing for an imminent rollout of 4G in the UK, told City A.M.
Everything Everywhere has faced criticism from its telecoms rivals for attempting to upgrade its current spectrum for the latest generation of mobile network ahead of the Ofcom spectrum auction later this year.
But Swantee said he was “surprised” at the response from other mobile network providers. “The whole industry has to step up now and move to 4G,” he added.
The company reported an improved customer churn of 1.2 per cent as it gained 151,000 new users in the period.