Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive, talked up his ambitious goals for how the fixed incumbent and newly-acquired EE will provide converged services, while also announcing a new corporate structure for the combined entity.

Patterson’s comments came during BT’s Q3 results which saw it report a 3 per cent increase in revenue to £4.6 billion.

“This is not just about selling bundles of two, three or four services together, it’s about converged networks using strong fixed and mobile networks to our advantage by offering real quality and value to our customers,”  said the BT chief. The deal promises significant synergies too.

The merger combines the UK’s leading fixed and mobile operators, although with little overlap between the two sides of the business. EE has a 33 per cent share of the mobile market and just 4 per cent of fixed broadband, while BT holds 33 per cent of the broadband market and less than one per cent mobile share.

According to the Q3 results, BT Mobile now has more than 300,000 customers.

Patterson also talked up the benefit for the UK economy of a digital champion with an annual capex of £3 billion.

New structure
BT announced its new structure, which confirmed what it had originally mooted: that EE will retain its own brand and be one of six lines of business. Two will serve consumers, two will focus on businesses and the public sector and two will provide wholesale services.

Alongside EE is the Consumer unit which includes BT Mobile as well as fixed broadband, telephony and TV.

BT also unveiled a new unit called Business and Public sector alongside Global Services, which serves multinationals outside the UK and Ireland. The line-up of six units is completed by Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.

An interesting sidenote was the extent to which EE executives are present throughout the new structure. As previously announced, Marc Allera, previously EE’s chief commercial officer, becomes the mobile operator’s CEO.

In addition, EE’s Gerry McQuade, its chief sales and marketing officer, becomes CEO of the Wholesale and Ventures unit. And EE’s Fotis Karonis will lead a new IT and Mobile business unit within BT’s Technology, Service and Operations (TSO) unit which supports the six lines of business.

BT’s Q3 results saw adjusted Ebitda rise 3 per cent to £1.6 billion. Meanwhile, depreciation and amortisation costs fell by four per cent, or £592 million. In addition, adjusted net finance expense was £95 million, a decrease of £39 million. As a result, reported pre-tax profit was £862 million, up 24 per cent.