Regulatory uncertainty casts shadow over otherwise positive results from BT and Vodafone

Positive results out yesterday from both Vodafone and BT.

One fact that caught my eye was the news from BT that (for the first time I can remember), BT had a net increase in connections. It’s is very old news that voice has migrated to mobile (if your fixed line rings, chances are it is your mum calling), but it appears that demand for fixed broadband is more resilient than some had predicted. Regular readers will recall my report from a conference earlier in the week where the speakers suggested that increasing smartphone and tablet penetration was, somewhat counter-intuitively, driving demand for fixed networks that were used for wifi and femtocell hand-off in residential markets. BT’s results, whilst not confirming this effect, are at least consistent with that hypothesis.

Meanwhile, both sets of result highlight the continued impact of government and regulators on the sector, with Ofcom’s refusal to let BT recover pension deficit contributions from its competitors and uncertainty over potential retrospective spectrum fees casting a shadow over Vodafone.