BT has reported a 4% dip in revenue to £4.98bn in its latest Q3 results, as the telecoms giant cited service revenue declines, lower equipment revenue, and a slowdown in handset trading.

The company’s revenue through nine months of its latest financial year is also down 4% compared to last year, standing at £14.78bn.

BT, publishing its Q3 results covering the three months to 31 December, also reported a pre-tax profit for the quarter of £183m, around £244m down, which it said was driven by a £214m share of losses from a joint venture in its sports division.

The telecoms group also reported a significant fall in its Openreach broadband lines, which were down by 210,000 in Q3. BT said it is now expecting full year losses of around 850,000 in broadband lines in its wholly owned subsidiary, although this is slightly less from a previous estimated 900,000 for Openreach.

However, BT’s chief executive, Allison Kirkby, was upbeat on the company’s performance and said it was “continuing to deliver” on its strategy while “accelerating its transformation”.

“With our transformation building momentum, we are delivering ahead of plan,” Kirkby said. “We remain on track for our financial outlook and guidance metrics for this year.”

Despite this, head of markets at AJ Bell, Dan Coatsworth, called BT’s loss of broadband users “alarming”.

“Any business losing customers at that rate would have alarm bells ringing and the chief executive given marching orders,” Coatsworth commented.

“In BT’s case, it has put a positive spin on events, predicting the loss of customers on a full-year basis will be slightly less than previously expected. The market is relieved, sending its shares up in early trading.

“Competition is growing, both in terms of price and providers, leaving sleepy BT to rely on its brand familiarity to attract new users and inertia to keep as many existing customers as possible. It’s no wonder the business is putting so much effort into cutting costs and improving efficiencies. BT is good at talking up its prospects, but the figures paint a different picture.”

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