LONDON-British Telecommunications plc in its first-quarter earnings results for the period ended June 30 said its sales increased by 17.6 percent over the same period in fiscal 1998, with good growth in its mobile communications and international ventures.
BT reported overall sales of $8.05 billion for the quarter, attributing a third of the 17.6-percent increase to its joint ventures. However, profit before tax increased 6.8 percent to $1.25 billion due to increased costs for mobile communications and in payments to other British telephone companies.
Sales by BT Cellnet rose 64 percent from first-quarter 1998 to $822 million. Cellnet’s customer base grew by 501,000 in the first quarter to more than 5 million, a 59-percent increase from the 12 months to June 30, said BT. Cellnet reports that 75 percent of its customer base is post-paid.
In related news, a BT official told Reuters in an interview that BT expects to make more deals in the next nine months.
BT earlier announced it is buying from Securicor the remaining 40-percent stake it doesn’t own in BT Cellnet. Earlier this year, BT announced a 50-50 joint venture with AT&T Corp. And in April, BT and AT&T together said they will buy 30 percent of Japan Telecom.
