BT’s CEO lashes out at “government-inflicted costs”

• BT chief Allison Kirkby claims the UK telco faces ten times the “government-inflicted” financial burden of its peers in other markets, such as Germany and the Netherlands
• She also highlighted the UK’s digital immaturity during a speech at the Connected Britain event in London
• Her comments underpin the telco’s lobbying initiatives to improve investor return

LONDON, UK – Connected Britain 2025 – BT Group CEO Allison Kirkby has called on the UK government and regulator Ofcom to reduce the financial burden on the telco to help it bolster growth and generate a return on investment from its broadband and mobile infrastructure.

In an on-stage interview at the Connected Britain event, Kirkby argued that BT was forced to pay ten times the “government-inflicted” costs – taxes, compliance costs and more – of its peers in Germany and the Netherlands.

“We are already at the peak of government-induced cost,” said Kirkby. “Investors need a return. We need that stability of regulatory and fiscal policy. In the past, we have given away our share of the value chain to others. We need to ensure the value is accrued by the investors and by the citizens.”

Kirkby highlighted that BT is the FTSE’s single biggest investor in UK capital expenditure (capex), totalling £25bn over the past five years. She argued that the fibre broadband and 5G mobile infrastructure in which BT has invested could be the catalyst for UK economic growth, but argued that the government and Ofcom have to enable that growth for it to be unlocked: She noted that the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network being built by BT’s quasi-autonomous wholesale access unit, Openreach, now reaches more than 20 million premises across the UK and has a 38% uptake. 

The CEO said BT’s investment in infrastructure is critical to support AI and quantum computing developments in the UK, and she urged an acceleration in AI adoption. “If infrastructure is used, it can fuel real growth,” she said. “We have to drive adoption, but we can’t have a connected Britain unless we upgrade our digital infrastructure and skills.”

Kirkby also stressed that the UK is lagging behind other major economies in terms of digital adoption – in particular she compared the UK to Scandinavia, a market she knows well from her previous CEO roles at telcos Telia and Tele2. The UK is, she stated, “slow to adopt new technology” and right now that means AI.

Kirkby’s statements align with the telco’s efforts to lobby the government to improve investment conditions, though of course the government and competition authorities want to stimulate a market that encourages competition and the two do not always align.

Kirkby also called for consolidation in the fixed market, which contains a large number of small fibre altnets. “Fragmentation is not good for critical national infrastructure – which is what we provide,” she said. Her concerns in that regard are likely to include complexity, cost and security.

As ever, broadband sector consolidation was a popular topic on the show floor at Connected Britain but, despite years of talk and anticipation, the kind of market-changing M&A deals that might create a national wholesale fibre broadband rival to Openreach have not yet been announced.   

– Richard Thurston, contributing editor, TelecomTV