BT Q3 2012/13 results: Fibre take-up accelerates, but sports costs loom

5 February 2013

BT had a very solid quarter, with revenue growth improving, broadband subscriber net additions bouncing back, ARPU robust and cost control still strong

Fibre net adds were particularly impressive, with take-up accelerating from an already high level, with this perhaps now starting to help stabilise ARPU

Progress on TV has been more mixed, with plenty of costs being added but no deals having been made yet to help offset this with revenue

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Satellite capacity explosion: Musk and Bezos extend their broadband ambitions

21 January 2025

Starlink has unveiled its plans for its next-generation satellites, boasting dramatically more capacity than was anticipated, as it aims to bring gigabit speeds to its broadband users.

This rapid growth in capacity poses the risk of a more commercially aggressive Starlink. While this will amplify its impact on the broadband market, it remains a somewhat niche consumer proposition but with additional B2B appeal.

Amazon's Kuiper is gearing up to begin launching its own satellites. While its target of introducing service later this year is likely to slip, Kuiper will bring an important peer competitor to Starlink, and will be the first time that Amazon's retail and marketing heft enters the UK connectivity market.

Access report

Netflix Q4 2024: More subs, more price rises

22 January 2025

Very strong subscription additions in all regions (+16% YoY, to 302 million) drove Netflix's quarterly revenue over $10 billion for the first time (+16% YoY). The advertising push appears to be continuing to dampen ARPU growth, ushering in more price rises

Netflix now has a defined advertising audience that does not watch commercial television—however, for this incremental audience to materially grow, longer-term users must be manoeuvred from the ad-free tiers

Netflix's original content slate has plateaued in major countries. If budgets have to absorb the growth of live content, there will be ramifications on the output of other genres, along with levels of market demand and production costs

Access report

Poverty, inequality, health: The need for Multibank - and for media

16 January 2025

Poverty has a negative impact on health in many ways —such as through housing, work, food, tobacco use, healthcare and sanitary costs, relationships, and social life—while social inequality has been shown to have its own, independent impact.

One in five people in the UK live in poverty, including nearly one in three children; almost two million households experience destitution. The life expectancy gap at birth between the most and least deprived areas of England is 9.7 years for men and 7.9 for women; the gaps are larger still in Scotland.

Multibank, an anti-poverty, community-based charitable initiative—which gifts otherwise wasted essentials to those most in need—has the invaluable support of retail and media to realise its impact.

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