Telecoms giant BT grew its all-Ireland business in what the company's global head Gavin Patterson hailed as a "ground-breaking year" for the overall group.
It posted a better-than-expected annual profits haul of £3.17 billion, which came in the wake of it securing another three years of Premier League football rights and announcing a £12.5 billion takeover of mobile phone operator EE.
And in Ireland, the company's revenues were up 2 per cent to £635 million while profit rose 4 per cent year, driven by increased demand for fibre broadband, the provision of major contracts, and continued cost management.
That was described by BT Ireland chief executive Colm O’Neill as "solid", and he said the company continued to offer greater connectivity, choice and value to its customers.
"Examples include our on-going investment in infrastructure to provide more access to next generation fibre broadband; enhancing our consumer portfolio, particularly in TV and Sport; and adding new capabilities in cloud services and 4G mobility for the SME and enterprise markets.
"We’ve also continued to invest in skills and talent creating almost 80 new jobs in Belfast in recent months, bringing our total employee numbers in Northern Ireland to over 2,400.”
The expansion of BT’s open access fibre network continued throughout the year with the deployment of the government-backed £23.5 million broadband improvement project.
"Across the north and in some of its most remote and rural areas, this fibre-based next generation network is changing the way citizens work, rest and play, with more than 205,000 homes and businesses now availing of the service," Mr O'Neill said.
Across the wider BT consumer line of business there was strong growth in the consumer broadband and TV customer bases, with BT Sport contributing to top and bottom line growth.
BT Sport TV channels were now in more than 5.2 million homes "with the customer base growing again in the quarter".
BT will show Champions League football from this autumn after snapping up the rights for £897 million. It recently agreed to pay £960 million to show 42 Premier League games a season for three years from 2016/17, up from 38 games currently.
In the business sector, BT continued to win in the market securing new contracts with customers such as NI Direct, which sees BT deliver contact centre services for the Northern Ireland public sector and drive digital transformation in the provision of government services across the region.
The company also expanded its range of products and services for the SME market, including the introduction of 4G for mobile and the launch of BT Cloud Voice, a cloud based phone system that enables businesses to integrate mobile and office phones on a single number.
