BT has reported a decline in its broadband business and profits – and says it laid off thousands of staff in the last six months.
The telecoms giant is delivering a ‘transformation plan’ which realised £247 million gross annualised cost savings during H1 FY26.
A cumulative total of £1.2 billion savings have been realised in the first 18 months of the £3bn programme.
It said its total global workforce was down 6% to 111,000, suggesting around 7,000 people have been laid off in the six months to 30th September 2025.
Openreach broadband lines fell 242,000 in Q2 – “driven by losses to competitors and a weaker broadband market” – but the firm saw a record fibre build of over 2.2m in the period.
Its FTTP (fibre to the premises) footprint reached 20.3m premises, of which 5.5m were in rural locations. It is on track to build up to 5m this fiscal year and reach its target of 25m by December 2026, it said.
Its ‘5G+’ standalone coverage now reaches 66% of the population, with a goal of reaching 99% by the end of FY30.
Reported and adjusted revenue was £9.8 billion, down 3%, due to declines in legacy voice, lower mobile handset trading volumes and declines in International, offset by an improving FTTP mix in Openreach.
Adjusted EBITDA was £4.1bn, flat year-on-year, with strong cost transformation and cost control offsetting revenue flow through and higher National Insurance and National Living Wage costs
Reported profit before tax £862m, down 11%.
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“BT is delivering on its strategy in competitive markets,” said CEO Allison Kirkby. “We’re building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting the country like no one else and accelerating our transformation.
“Openreach full fibre broadband now reaches more than 20 million homes and businesses and our award-winning EE network is live with 5G+ coverage for 66% of the population.
“Since the start of the year, we’ve driven customer growth across consumer broadband, mobile and TV and we’re stabilising our UK-focused business division.
“Outside the UK, we’ve completed strategic exits and we’re reshaping our International unit. BT’s transformation is delivering ahead of plan, as our UK focus and radical simplification and modernisation are helping to offset declines from our International and legacy businesses and higher labour-related costs since the start of this tax year.
“We remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year, our cash flow inflection to c.£2bn in FY27 and c.£3bn by the end of the decade, and we’re announcing an increased interim dividend to 2.45 pence per share.”