BT Group, Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile provider, reiterated its full-year outlook on Thursday (Jul 27) as cost control and demand for broadband helped to offset inflationary pressures.

The group said its adjusted core earnings rose 5 per cent in the first quarter to £2 billion (S$3.43 billion), in line with analyst forecasts.

“We’ve made a strong start to the year, in what remains a very competitive market, with improved customer satisfaction, pro forma revenue growth in all of our business units and pro forma group Ebitda up by 5 per cent,” chief executive Philip Jansen said in a statement.

Jansen said this month he would step down within the next year, a couple of years before the completion of his ambitious full-fibre roll-out.

Commenting on his decision last week, Jansen said he was “clearly very disappointed about the share price performance on my watch”, but he would leave the company stronger, more competitive and with brighter prospects than when he arrived.

Its shares are down 30 per cent in the last year as the cost of building out new fibre and 5G networks, and the hit to free cash flow, weighed on the business.

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BT said its Openreach network division was now 44 per cent of the way through its full fibre build, with total fibre connections growing to 3.5 million. REUTERS