BT profits rise as telecoms giant ramps up football rivalry with Sky

BT has reported a 16% rise in pre-tax profit to £632m on flat revenue of £4.3bn for the first quarter.

Chief executive Gavin Patterson also said that the firm's plans to take on Sky are gathering pace with the launch of BT Sport Europe, which will air UEFA Champions League football.

Patterson said: "This is an exciting time at BT. The investments we are making in our business and customer service are building a strong platform for growth. And our financial results show we're on track to achieve our outlook for the full year."

The telecoms giant also said that it has added 100,000 mobile customers as its acquisition of EE nears completion.

Earlier this month, regulator Ofcom raised the prospect of breaking up BT in order to avoid what it called "holding the UK's digital infrastructure to ransom".

Sky and TalkTalk favour breaking up BT on as they believe its dominance of the broadband market gives it an unfair advantage over competitors and stifles competition in the sector.

Will Hedden, of London Capital Group, said: "The integration of EE to complete the mobile leg of their quad-play offering has brought BT a lot of business already. The benefits from BT's EE integration in the medium term may be hampered if rivals successfully argue that the network operator part of the group, Openreach, should be spun off into a separate entity."

For its part, BT has said that it is "engaging with Ofcom as part of its strategic review of digital communications".