EE mobile service revenues decline, operating revenues return to growth

EE has announced its H1 results for 2015 which saw the mobile operator mark a return to operating revenue growth for Q2, despite a decline in mobile service revenues year on year.

The mobile operator says its Q2 2015 mobile service revenues sat at £1.38 billion, down from the £1.4bn revenues from the same quarter in 2014. On the whole, operating revenues were up marginally from £1.505bn in Q2 2014 to £1.506bn in 2015; which the telco says is down to the growth in its fixed broadband and M2M businesses, while also seeing a year on year growth of 2.2% for average revenues generated per user. EE said it now sees roughly 62% of mobile users taking up postpaid plans, which generates roughly seven times higher ARPU than its prepaid customer base, which declined by 184,000 users year-on-year.

EE also claimed net 4G subscriber additions of more than 1.5m in Q, with total 4G customers now reaching 10.9m – up from 4.2m in 2014. Apparently, all new connections on EE are now 4G, with nearly 50% of postpaid customers taking up its LTE-A option.

In a statement, the company also said its enterprise services businesses are experience positive levels of growth. “The B2B base continues to grow rapidly at 7% YOY, 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,” it said.

Olaf Swantee, EE’s CEO, pointed at new services being worked on by the operator as key reasons for a return to operating revenue growth.

“Our established leadership in 4G and key differentiators such as Wi-Fi calling are working well for the business,” he said. “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 customer and B2B 4G connected products.”