EE lost 88,000 retail mobile customers in the three mont hs to the end of June as its prepaid customer base dwindled, but the U.K. mobile operator posted solid growth at its 4G business and saw fixed broadband customers rise, while earnings for the first half of the year looked strong.
EE added 1.5 million 4G customers in the second quarter – and 6.7 million over 12 months – to take its total LTE base to 10.9 million. As such, it described itself as being "firmly on track" to reach its target of 14 million 4G customers by the end of the year.
The telco reported 96,000 net additions at its overall postpaid customer base during the quarter, but that figure was offset by 184,000 prepaid losses. Mobile service revenue fell by 1.8% compared with the year-ago quarter to £1.38 billion.
At the end of June the operator had a total customer base of 30.95 million, up by 0.5% on Q2 2014. That figure includes its fixed broadband customers, which reached 919,000, up 18.6% on-year, and its M2M base, where connections grew by 13.6% to 2.06 million.
The firm saw a return to growth in operating revenue, which inched up by 0.1% to £1.5 billion in Q2, although over the first half of the year it fell by 0.5% to £2.98 billion. Its top line crept up by 0.6% to £1.58 billion in Q2 and grew by 0.1% to £3.11 billion in the first half.
EBITDA was up by 17.4% in the first half to £771 million, giving the telco its best ever quarterly EBITDA margin at 26.6%.
