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| BT revenues up on demand for broadband and sports TV | BT revenues up on demand for broadband and sports TV |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BT's sales and profits have risen, driven by record broadband demand and its new sports television service. | BT's sales and profits have risen, driven by record broadband demand and its new sports television service. |
| The company reported pre-tax profits of £617m for the last three months of 2013, on revenues of £4.6bn. | The company reported pre-tax profits of £617m for the last three months of 2013, on revenues of £4.6bn. |
| BT has moved aggressively into the TV sport business, taking on rival BSkyB, and now has 2.5 million customers using the service. | BT has moved aggressively into the TV sport business, taking on rival BSkyB, and now has 2.5 million customers using the service. |
| BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said the profit figures proved "our strategic investments are delivering". | BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said the profit figures proved "our strategic investments are delivering". |
| The company has been expanding its sports coverage, and in November beat the dominant pay-TV service BSkyB to the rights to show Champions League and Europa League matches for three seasons from 2015-16. | |
| The group said in a statement that it saw a record quarter for fibre broadband demand, and now had 1.9 million customers taking the faster and more expensive service, out of its 7.1 million broadband customer base. | |
| With more people taking up superfast broadband, BT can offer a wider range of services. | |
| BT said that strong demand for fibre broadband and sport had helped its consumer division grow revenues by 6% in the quarter, its best performance in a decade. | |
| Meanwhile, the number of BT customers disconnecting lines was at 70,000, significantly down on the 173,000 who left BT a year ago. | |
| "This is an encouraging set of results," said Mr Patterson. "Our strategic investments are delivering. It was another record quarter." |