BT faced a more intense battle in the broadband market in the September quarter, and lost some net adds share, but retained its #1 spot and is still growing well

Revenue growth fell at both the group and consumer level, but this was largely due to the BT Sport direct revenue benefit annualising out, with growth excluding this actually improving a touch

The flip side of this is that the negative cost impact is also annualising out, and cost reduction in the quarter looks weak in this context, but this is likely due more to discretionary spend on new products than a lack of costs to cut

EE’s 4G adoption continued to surge, with 1.4m net adds, over 80% of new contract sales taking 4G and just under 40% of contract base having adopted it

Mobile service revenue growth however slowed to -2.4% from -1.1% the previous quarter, with an extra regulatory hit from the EU’s ‘Consumer Rights Directive’ doing some of the damage, as well as some underlying weakness

Operating revenue growth (i.e. including fixed and revenue from MVNOs) was much healthier, helped by the fast growing fixed broadband business, but growth in mobile is crucial to driving profitability given the operating leverage involved

In the last few days we have spoken to key authorities in advertising in the US, UK and Europe.

We have been exploring the critical debate: the degree to which TV consumption and TV advertising are shifting and will shift to digital. Recent media coverage has argued traditional TV business models could start to unravel in the medium term. We disagree.

Q1 2015 results show steady underlying revenue growth in retail subscription and increases in other segments, along with the continuing extraction of cost efficiencies, resulting in an 11% year-on-year increase in Q1 operating profits

Quarter-on-quarter, Q1 2015 retail subscription revenues and ARPU were flat in spite of the strong uptake and growing use of connected products. Main causes appeared temporary - a mixture of seasonal factors and the launch of Sky Sports 5 with its two-year free broadband offer - while underlying growth remains firmly positive

Meanwhile, Sky’s accelerated investment in connectivity during 2014 is bearing fruit. Eyes may be focused on the formation of the “new Sky” (on schedule for November) and the long awaited Premier League auction, yet other developments such as Sky Store and Sky AdSmart also deserve full attention

EE has launched a new TV service featuring an advanced set-top box with a snazzy interface offered for free to its broadband/mobile customers

The lack of premium content means that the service is of little threat to the established pay TV operators Sky and Virgin Media, and the lack of integration with mobile or steep quad play discount makes it non-threatening to the mobile market

It does however reposition EE Broadband as a differentiated service, making it more competitive without lowering its headline price, with triple play the focus of this move in our view

Virgin Media’s request for Ofcom to open a formal investigation into the auction mechanism of live televised Premier League rights is a timely reminder of the need to consider the consumer as the auction draws ever closer with all eyes focused on the battle of BT versus Sky

When the EC last intervened before the 2006 auction, its remedy focused on the need for more than one winner for the sake of a more competitive downstream market, but without considering other variables affecting the outcome, to which Virgin Media has drawn attention

As the European country with much the highest rights fees per game, much the fewest televised top league games, highest package prices and by far the biggest outlay on player wages, the current PL auction mechanism gives the UK consumer little cause for cheer

UK consumers have embraced data-hungry services like Facebook and Google, but many also have concerns about privacy online; young people have a more positive view of the trade-off and know how to avoid targeted advertising

Businesses that are conscientious about consumers’ data gain their trust, and the gap between trusted brands and the market as a whole may grow substantially in the future

Despite Edward Snowden’s revelations on ‘Big brother snooping’, the UK Government has secured vast access to communications data without serious challenge to date

European mobile service revenue growth improved by 0.5ppts to -7.2% in Q2 2014, but all of this and more was driven by a reduced regulatory impact; underlying growth has been stuck at around 6% for the last four quarters, with progress in some areas consistently being countered by further pricing pressure

Industry consolidation has progressed to some extent, but would have had little impact in the quarter. Further in-country mobile/mobile mergers are more than likely but uncertainty driven by the changing European Commission may be delaying decisions to move forward

The UK example shows that consolidation is not necessary for market repair, but in the present environment the smaller operators in continental Europe have every incentive to be as disruptive as possible to encourage their acquisition, so further mergers cannot come soon enough

In a huge victory for the Union, 55% of Scotland’s voters said ‘No thanks’ to independence

The follow-up to the cross-party pledge on devolution shifts to London and will be dictated by the winner of the General Election on 7 May 2015; the Conservatives are aiming for a wider constitutional settlement for England to resolve the West Lothian question, while Labour will stick with a minimalist approach to preserve Scottish MPs

The 1.6 million votes for independence demonstrate the strength of the separatist movement; we expect the SNP to continue its mission, actively supported by the Scottish Government, and to renew its mandate for independence by winning the May 2016 election with a solid majority

Apple has fulfilled its promise to roll out innovative new products this year, launching Apple Watch into the nascent wearables market and Apple Pay, a new mobile payments service, as well as moving the iPhone into ‘phablet’ territory.

The larger-screened 6 and 6 Plus should revive growth in iPhone sales and ASP, as well as providing another variable to compete in the mid-tier handset segment; Apple Pay further enhances Apple’s lock on its customer base.

Apple Watch’s likely impact is harder to discern; to date sales of smartwatches have been lacklustre but although Apple’s offering is the most commercially viable yet, it still feels like a solution in need of a problem.