UK telecommunications operator and IT services provider BT Group made £1.01 billion in profit during the last financial year, despite the fact that its revenues fell by 3% to £20.91 billion.

The company said that it had cut its operating costs by “improving customer service and reducing the cost of failure”.
 
CEO Ian Livingstone revealed that this money would be used to extend its broadband infrastructure investment to £2.5 billion. This will make optical fibre broadband – sometimes described as ‘superfast broadband’ – available to ‘around two-thirds’ of UK homes, up from a previous commitment of 40%.

The company’s IT services division, BT Global Services, was still a drain on group profits during the year, its operating loss totaling $358 million.

In November 2008, after BT Global Service fell well short of its 15% margin targets, the company launched an emergency strategy to improve that division’s profitability. That strategy involved ditching the divisional CEO and around 10,000 other jobs, mainly contractors.