Remains the fastest growing 4G operator in Europe
After four years of struggle, EE’s first half of 2015 results show the mobile operator is growing again.
With BT poised to acquire the company in a £12.5 billion deal, EE has stated its investment in network differentiation and operational efficiency have delivered record margin, with 4G customer growth helping to maintain its market leadership in mobile service revenue.
EE’s 4G customer base reached 10.9 million, up 6.7 million year on year, maintaining its position as the largest 4G operator in Europe. The company said it remains firmly on track to exceed 14 million 4G customers by the end of the year.
The company has had a return to growth in operating revenue; EE experienced second quarter operating revenue growth of plus 0.1% year on year, and up 2.2% year on year, excluding regulatory impact, to £1,506 million. It said this demonstrated the success of its 4G strategy.
EE experienced first half EBITDA of £830 million, a margin of 26.6%, up 2.2 percentage points year on year, compared to the first half of 2014 at 24.4%.
Second quarter mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) growth was up 2.2% year on year compared to the first quarter 2015 up1.1%, excluding regulatory impact.
The customer value mix further improved with postpaid mobile net adds of 96,000,000 in the second quarter, and total postpaid net adds, which include a increase of 13.6% year on year growth in M2M, reached 178,000,000 in the quarter. Postpaid customer retention improved, with churn reducing to 1.1%.
The B2B base has continued to grow rapidly at 7% year on year, delivering an increase in data revenues of 7.6%, driven by strong uptake of 4G products and innovative services, including security and compliance products and a new suite of enterprise mobility management tools.
Improving customer satisfaction remains a core focus for EE. More EE stores have opened in new areas of the UK, increasing the catchment area by 11%, creating more opportunities for in-store service and support.
The average number of calls to service centres has reduced by 30% year on year, with further investment in customer initiatives, including the on-shoring of 1,000 roles back to the UK (a year ahead of schedule), leading to double digit improvement in Net Promoter Scores across Customer Service (up 14 percentage points year on year), Retail (up 12 percentage points year on year) and Digital (up 38 percentage points year on year).
Olaf Swantee, CEO at EE, commented: “Our established leadership in 4G and key differentiators such as Wi-Fi calling are working well for the business. We’re the clear network market leader and this, combined with our strong operational performance, has led to a return to revenue growth while delivering our best ever EBITDA margin.
“The business continues to focus squarely on improving customer satisfaction and on cross-selling our innovative range of consumer and B2B 4G connected products,” Swantee continued.
