BT holds on to broadband crown

BT said today it remained the UK's biggest broadband supplier after securing the lion's share of new connections at the end of last year.

The former monopoly picked off a market-leading 35 per cent of customers connecting via its network during the quarter ended December 31.

It took BT's own broadband subscriber total up 177,000 to 4.25 million at the end of last year. The firm said it was outstripping rival Virgin Media, which it overtook last May.

The number of customers using BT's digital TV on-demand service BT Vision also doubled during the quarter to 150,000.

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "This has been another solid performance.

"We remain the UK's number one retail broadband provider....and BT Vision customers more than doubled in the quarter."

BT's underlying earnings were £1.47 billion, broadly in line with market estimates of £1.48 billion.