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* Q3 adjusted revenue and core earnings fall 5%
* Reiterates outlook for year, raises free cashflow guide
* Network investment hinges on regulator review
(Adds CEO comments)
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - BT called for British
government support on business rates and a new deal from the
regulator to allow billions of pounds of investment in fibre to
drive a post-COVID recovery.
The country's biggest broadband and mobile operator has been
making its case to Ofcom, which will publish the regulatory
regime for the next five years and beyond in March.
"BT is absolutely ready, willing and able to build like fury
and fibre up the UK, but we need Ofcom to come good on creating
a climate that encourages investment and the government to show
some urgency in removing barriers," Chief Executive Philip
Jansen said after BT's third-quarter results on Thursday.
Jansen called on the government to remove taxes - called
Cumulo rates - on fibre networks, saying they placed a heavier
burden on fibre than on out-of-date copper infrastructure.
"Exemption from these rates would be worth around 1 billion
pounds to BT alone, which is equivalent to about 3 million
premises," he said.
BT was currently building fibre at the rate of just over
four premises a minute, putting it on track to reach 4.5 million
by March, he said, and with the right conditions it could reach
20 million by the mid to late 2020s.
The company earlier reported a 5% drop in both adjusted
revenue and core earnings that it put down to COVID-19, which
has closed retail stores and reduced mobile roaming revenue.
It kept its outlook for core earnings for the year to
end-March at 7.3-7.5 billion pounds, but raised the lower limit
of its free cash flow range by 100 million pounds to 1.3-1.5
billion pounds.
BT's shares, which were trading at 11-year lows last summer,
gave up early gains to trade broadly flat.
($1 = 0.7359 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and
Alexander Smith)
