What’s up with… BT, T-Mobile US, Orange

• BT flatlines as it hires new CFO 
• T-Mobile US grows again, launches T-Satellite
• Orange Cyberdefense acquires Swiss firm

In today’s industry news roundup: BT is pinning its future hopes on its UK operations but there’s little sign of growth in the telco’s domestic market currently; T-Mobile US had a stellar Q2 and has now commercially launched its satellite-to-smartphone service; Orange Cyberdefense has bolstered its team in Switzerland with a strategic acquisition; and much more!

BT Group’s fiscal first quarter trading update for the three months to the end of June contained many positive statistics and trends related to the telco’s UK broadband and mobile network expansion and reach, but also highlighted what must be a concern to CEO Allison Kirkby. The Scot made it clear early in her tenure that BT’s focus is to be on the operator’s domestic market, with international operations deemed to be a costly and shrinking distraction: As a result, BT’s international business has been carved out into a standalone unit that is now under review (it might be offloaded or jointly owned in the future). Now, when it issues a financial report, BT not only publishes its group revenues, it also reports its UK service revenues to show how its domestic operations are performing. The problem is that while group revenue performance continues to be hampered by the telco’s shrinking international sales, the UK-only operations aren’t doing much better. For the fiscal first quarter, BT’s group revenues were down by 3% year on year to £4.88bn – and its UK service revenues were also down, albeit by just 1% to £3.86bn, with only the Openreach wholesale access network division managing any sales growth, while the consumer and business services units reported a decline. This isn’t a blip – when BT reported its full fiscal year results for the 12 months that ended in March 2025, not only were its total group revenues down by 2% to £20.36bn, its UK service revenues were down by 1% to £15.58bn. It’s notable, then, that Kirkby’s first quarter comments didn’t reference any financials but stuck instead to operational developments, such as the expansion of the telco’s fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) footprint to 19 million homes and businesses and the 87% population coverage for its 5G services. The investments in BT’s access networks are, of course, commendable and sensible and will help BT make the most of any business growth opportunities, but Kirkby will surely be hoping that those all-important UK service revenue numbers turn a corner and start heading up in the coming quarters. Helping the CEO to deliver the results starting next year will be Patricia Cobian, who has been appointed as BT’s new group CFO starting in the summer of 2026. She will succeed Simon Lowth, who has been group CFO for the past nine years. Cobian joins from BT’s domestic rival Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), where she has been CFO until today, when, as VMO2 announced, she begins a 12-month period of “gardening leave”.  

BT wasn’t the only British telco to report its latest financials on Thursday, as Vodafone Group also published a trading update: You can read about how it is getting on in this article. It was perhaps unfortunate timing, then, that on the day both BT and Vodafone put themselves in front of investors, both operators reportedly suffered significant service outages across the UK. 

There’s no stopping T-Mobile US right now, it seems. The ‘un-carrier’ has reported a 6.1% year on year increase in service revenues to $17.44bn for the second quarter of 2025, and a 6.1% increase also in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) to $8.55bn. The operator ended June with 132.78 million customers, up by almost 6.9 million compared with a year earlier. During the second quarter it added 454,000 customers for its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA service, which it calls ‘5G broadband’ (or 5G Home Internet), taking the total customer base for that service to 7.3 million. And like its rival AT&T, the operator is set to benefit financially from the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with resulting tax windfalls expected to amount to $1.5bn. The T-Mobile US team is not short of confidence and, as usual, found multiple ways to boast about its prowess in its second quarter press release, but others also think it has something to be proud of – T-Mobile US is the only operator in the country to win back-to-back awards for Best Mobile Network from Ookla (see this report), and it has also been commended by Opensignal for best overall experience for the fourth consecutive quarter. The operator is also something of a service innovator, having been the first in the US to launch satellite-to-smartphone/direct-to-cell services in partnership with Starlink. The operator says that after six months of testing, during which more than 2 million people tried the application, its T-Satellite service is now available to anyone with a suitable smartphone in the US (even to AT&T and Verizon customers). Find out more in this blog.   

Orange Cyberdefense, the cybersecurity subsidiary of Orange, has acquired Swiss  cybersecurity firm ensec for an undisclosed sum. Zurich-based ensec, which has 40 staff and 130 customers (finance, retail, energy, public sector), provides consulting, IT security integration, managed security services and tailored support for a broad portfolio of cybersecurity products. The acquisition adds to Orange Cyberdefense's existing presence in Switzerland, where it already has more than 100 expert staff and “works closely with customers from both the public and private sectors, ranging from SMBs to large multi-nationals in collaboration with Orange Business,” noted Orange in this announcement.  Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense, stated: “The acquisition of ensec marks a significant milestone in our European development, enabling us to better serve our customers with comprehensive, high-impact cybersecurity solutions. This move not only strengthens our market position among Germanic customers in Switzerland but also underscores our commitment to build a safer digital society for our clients and partners.”

The £1.16bn acquisition of Spirent Communications by fellow test and measurement vendor Keysight Technologies, first announced in March 2024 following a bidding war, has been delayed as the companies “continue to engage constructively with the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People's Republic of China (SAMR),” stated Keysight in this press release. “Clearance from SAMR is the final regulatory clearance in relation to the acquisition and, with support and assistance from Spirent, Keysight remains committed to working quickly and constructively with SAMR to obtain clearance for the acquisition,” the company added. Keysight had noted earlier this year, following its agreement regarding the transaction with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), that it expected the acquisition to be completed by the end of July. Last year Keysight outbid rival Viavi to secure a deal to buy Spirent, but as we reported in June, Viavi is set to pick up multiple Spirent units once the deal is completed in order to satisfy the DoJ’s conditions for approving the Keysight/Spirent merger.   

– The staff, TelecomTV