Income drops at Everything Everywhere
BRITAIN’S biggest mobile operator Everything Everywhere saw income fall in the first half of the year as the Orange and T-Mobile owner invested in retaining customers and upgrading networks.
Adjusted earnings decreased slightly to £673m, as revenues from calls and other services fell 1.8 per cent to £2.99bn due to an Ofcom-ordered cap on charges. The firm, which is trying to integrate the two networks to cut costs, made a pre-tax loss of £104m.
The operator said yesterday it had signed up 150,000 new customers to contract offerings in the last six months, with 79 per cent of its subscribers now on lucrative two-year plans. It paid out more than usual over the period as a large number of 18-month deals ended.
Chief executive Olaf Swantee told City A.M. Everything Everywhere was “making steady progress on our key strategy” as it tries to hold on to customers and upgrade equipment ahead of a planned launch of its high-speed 4G network this year.