In its last financial results as an independent company, EE produced a healthy full-year profit, although it failed to eke out a rise in revenue despite strong 4G growth.

The numbers come two weeks after the closing of its £12.4 billion sale to BT.

EE said its 4G base almost doubled in 2015 and now exceeds 14 million – it claimed to be the first European operator to reach this number.

The company made a profit of £332 million in the full year against a loss in 2014 of £217 million. The latter figure was dragged down by an exceptional charge of £336 million in 2014, relating to the end of a contract with Phones 4U.

However, revenue in 2015 was £6.31 billion, which was flat compared to the prior year.

Likewise, in Q4 2015, the operator reported a one per cent decline in revenue to £1.61 billion.

At end-2015, EE had 31.5 million network connections, a two per cent increase during the year.

The total network connections figure covers both fixed and mobile, of which the largest group is contract mobile, at 15.3 million, a three per cent increase during 2015.

The prepaid base slipped by 8 per cent to 8.8 million.