BT share price: Company to reveal mobile plans next week

BT Group Plc (LON:BT.A) will next week reveal its plans to return to the UK’s consumer mobile market, according to a report by the Financial Times. Citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, the newspaper yesterday said that for its new foray into mobile, the telecoms giant had prepared a number of inexpensive mobile offers, aimed mainly at existing customers.

The offers would be priced relatively low to encourage people who already use other BT services, such as broadband and television, to take an additional product, the source said. Nevertheless, the mobile services will also be available for those who are not BT customers.
BT already offers its sports TV service for free to broadband customers in an attempt to encourage take-up and retention of its superfast Internet services. However, according to sources close to the situation, the company will not give away its mobile services in the same way as the TV channels. This will come as a relief for rival mobile companies, which feared that BT would undercut their prices.
For its latest assault on the mobile market, BT will initially use the network provided under a wholesale deal with EE. The deal was struck before BT agreed to acquire the UK’s largest mobile carrier for £12.5 billion. EE will continue to be operated separately until after the takeover has been approved by regulators.
BT left the consumer mobile market after it demerged its BT Cellnet unit in 2002. The business was rebranded as O2 and was later acquired by Spanish telecoms group Telefonica in November 2005.
In yesterday’s trading, BT shares closed 0.7 percent higher at 466.40p. The stock has risen nearly 16 percent since the start of the year. The company’s market capitalisation currently stands at £39.2 billion.
As of 09:47 GMT, Saturday, 21 March, BT Group plc share price is 465.40p.