Bt Group PlcLSE: BT.A

Annual Financial Report

Jun 11, 2026 at 10:01 AM UTC · MarketScreener

A BETTER BT FOR ALL OF US

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026

From the hardest-to-reach communities to the busiest cities, people, business and society rely on BT in the moments that matter. We're building next-generation networks faster and further, connecting the country and accelerating progress

so everyone can thrive in a digital world.

Focused on the UK, we're investing, innovating and upskilling - creating a better BT for all of us.

WE CONNECT FOR GOOD

Contents How we've done

‌Strategic report 1

A message from our Chairman 2

A message from our Chief Executive 4

Executive Committee 8

Our business model 10

Trends shaping our industry and business 16

Our strategic framework 18

Progress against our strategic priorities 20

Our stakeholders 32

Non-financial and sustainability information statement 40

Our key performance indicators (KPIs) 42

Group performance 46

A message from the Chair of Openreach 53

Risk management 54

Our principal risks and uncertainties 56

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures 63

Viability statement 72

Corporate governance report 73

Financial statements 120

Additional information 224

The Board approved this Strategic report on 20 May 2026. The Chairman signed on behalf of the Board.

Adam Crozier Chairman

20 May 2026

You can find our cautionary statement on forward-looking statements on page 228.

Revenue

£19.7bn (3)%

(FY25: £20.4bn)

Profit before tax

£1.4bn 8%

(FY25: £1.3bn)

Adjusteda EBITDA

£8.2bn -%

(FY25: £8.2bn)

Cash flow from operating activities

£7.0bn 1%

(FY25: £7.0bn)

Normalised free cash flowb

£1.5bn (6)%

(FY25: £1.6bn)

Basic earnings per share

11.0p 2%

(FY25: 10.8p)

Capital expenditure

Pages 2 to 72 are the Strategic report. It includes our business model, progress against our current strategic priorities, our key performance indicators, group performance and our principal risks and uncertainties.

You can find our Corporate governance report

on pages 73 to 119. It includes the Report on directors'

remuneration and the Directors' report.

When we say 'BT Group' and 'the group' in this document we mean BT Group plc - made up of our subsidiaries, customer-facing units and internal corporate functions. When we say 'FY26' we mean the financial year that ended on 31 March 2026, and we use the same approach for any other years.

£5.1bn 6%

(FY25: £4.9bn)

Look out for these throughout the report

Reference to another page in the report Reference to further reading online

Adjusted EBITDA is group profit or loss before specific items, net finance expense, taxation, depreciation and amortisation and share of post-tax profits or losses of associates and joint ventures. See page 227.
We define normalised free cash flow on page 226.

A message from our Chairman

‌A YEAR OF PROGRESS

Over the past year, we have continued to make strong progress against a clear strategy, strengthening our leadership, investing for the long term, and delivering for customers, colleagues, shareholders and the country in a demanding and highly competitive environment.

Adam Crozier/Chairman

Another year of strategic progress

This year, BT has continued to make solid progress against a clear strategy, in a demanding and highly competitive environment, reflected in continued investor confidence. We are investing

for the long term, strengthening our leadership, and delivering for customers, colleagues and owners - while continuing to play a vital role for the country.

The Board is encouraged by the clarity of the strategy, the momentum of

transformation, and the focus on delivery.

Creating long-term value

BT is investing more in UK digital infrastructure than any other business. Between 2020 and 2030, we expect to invest more than £40bn in the country, supporting jobs, productivity and long term economic growth.

Looking ahead, we are reiterating our expectation of a cash flow inflection to around £2bn in FY27, rising to around

£3bn by the end of the decade. Delivering this improvement in cash flow is central to our long term value creation plans and underpins confidence in BT's future.

Reflecting the year's delivery, the Board has proposed an increased full-year dividend of 8.32 pence per share. This reflects our continued confidence in the business and our commitment to balancing investment for long-term growth with returns to shareholders.

The Board also monitors shareholder returns closely. Our priority remains to improve returns over time through consistent execution, stronger customer outcomes and growing, sustainable cash generation. We are seeing this reflected in our share price performance this year.

Connecting for good

Our purpose, to connect for good, is central to how BT operates and how the Board considers long term value. It reflects BT's role in supporting national resilience, helping to close the digital divide, embedding sustainability into the business and maintaining trust in the networks people rely on every day.

As we become the UK's most trusted connector, we play an important role in enabling people to access digital services confidently and safely, with plans to reach more people and businesses by the end of the decade.

BT also continued to make progress on its climate transition plan - cutting operational emissions, electrifying our fleet, managing Scope 3 emissions and working towards a circular economy.

This is strengthening our resilience and reducing our environmental impact.

Successful stakeholder relationships

We continue to engage closely with government on the role our networks play in supporting economic growth, productivity and inclusion across the UK.

Our investment is enabled by the greater fiscal and regulatory certainty provided over the past year - including the 2025 Budget, the Mobile Market Review and Statement of Strategic Priorities. BT welcomed the Chancellor's support of our plans to build fibre to 30 million premises and 5G+ to 99% of the population.

We're proud to lead the industry on pricing fairness, transparency, clarity, and value, and we're calling for the whole industry

to do the same. This year we signed the Government's Pricing Charter in support of this.

We also led the way on fraud prevention, protecting customers from emerging threats and signing the Second Telecoms Sector Fraud Charter.

And as we support all customers to move away from outdated networks, we signed the Fixed Telecoms Modernisation Safeguards and Ceasing Charter - working to ensure we are following the right safeguarding principles for this

national upgrade.

We maintain an open and transparent relationship with the regulator. Ofcom's work, including its Telecoms Access Review, provides important clarity for the sector. The Board remains focused on ensuring BT operates fairly, responsibly and in the best interests of customers.

Beyond this, BT is proud to work with customers, partners, suppliers and communities across the country every day. Whether it's supporting businesses large and small, working with technology partners, or helping people build digital skills, BT continues to play a unique role in the UK's digital economy.

Board changes

Strong governance underpins effective delivery of strategy. The Board has worked closely with Allison Kirkby and the Executive Committee during the year to ensure BT has the leadership, skills and focus needed for the next phase of delivery.

We welcomed representation from our major shareholder, with Sunil Bharti Mittal and Gopal Vittal appointed to the Board as Non-Independent, Non-Executive Directors.

The Board continues to benefit from a balanced mix of skills, experience and perspectives, including strong female representation. We remain focused on effective oversight, clear accountability and supporting management to deliver the strategy at pace.

A focus on the future

The year ahead is about accelerating delivery. The strategy is clear, the leadership team is in place, and execution will be critical in a highly competitive market.

We look forward to welcoming Patricia Cobian in the summer, when she joins BT as Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Executive Committee, succeeding Simon Lowth, who leaves behind a significant legacy of leadership and contribution to BT.

We will continue to evolve how the Board supports delivery of the strategy. This will include new Board working groups focused on workforce and technology transformation, reflecting how critical both are to future execution and long term competitiveness.

In line with this evolution, oversight of responsible business delivery will move from a standalone committee to being embedded into the Board's regular reviews of strategy and performance. This will govern our progress against an expanded digital inclusion goal, to reach 30 million people and businesses with digital skills, tools and support by 2030.

From FY27, we intend to update BT's dividend policy to show our commitment towards increasing returns to shareholders and to reflect the increasing cash flows we expect BT to generate in the coming years. The Board has adopted a new policy to grow the dividend per share by a low to mid single-digit percentage each year in FY27 and onwards until we reach metrics consistent with a BBB+ credit rating.

Beyond that point, we'll make residual cash flow available to support enhanced shareholder distributions. This approach provides greater clarity for shareholders while meeting commitments to the pension fund, maintaining a strong balance sheet and preserving flexibility to invest for long-term growth.

Finally, on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all our people across BT for their hard work and commitment during the year. BT's progress depends on their skill, service and determination, and we are grateful for the way colleagues continue to deliver through significant change.

Despite a challenging external environment, the Board looks ahead with confidence. BT has a vital role to play for the UK and, with the assets, strategy and momentum we have built, we remain focused on delivering for customers, shareholders and the country, as we create a better BT for the future.

Adam Crozier Chairman

20 May 2026

A message from our Chief Executive

‌A BETTER BT FOR ALL OF US

At BT, we connect for good. Our networks have been trusted to keep Britain connected for

180 years. We're not just part of the fabric of the nation; we're its digital backbone.

Allison Kirkby/Chief Executive

No one is building digital infrastructure faster or further than BT, connecting and protecting the country and accelerating the UK's modernisation. This is a huge responsibility for all of us across the company,

and it's this sense of purpose that drives us forward.

Our ambition is clear - to become the UK's most trusted connector of people, business and society. And it could not be more relevant in today's world, especially considering the pace of technological change and the role our networks play. At BT, we're proud to underpin almost every aspect of modern life and work - and to be at the heart of the country's tech and therefore growth agenda.

Last year, we set out our refreshed and more focused strategy for long-term value creation and growth, to create a better BT for all of us: our customers, our colleagues, the country and our owners.

To enable this growth, our strategy is focused on three things:

First, building the best, most trusted, digital networks;
Second, connecting customers, so they thrive, as we grow, in a digital world;
And third, accelerating our modernisation, to restore BT's leadership in everything we do.

Solid progress in the year

As I reflect on the progress we have made, it's been another year of strong delivery against our strategic priorities in what remains a very competitive market with complex economic challenges. I'm immensely grateful for the dedication of our people, the loyalty of our customers, and the sustained support of our owners as we continue this once-in-a-generation

upgrade of the UK's infrastructure, and the modernisation of one of the country's most important institutions.

Highlights include:

We hit the accelerated full fibre build target we announced this time last year; Openreach full fibre now passes more than two thirds of the country's homes and businesses.
Our mobile network kept winning quality awards, and by a wide margin.
Across BT, our customer satisfaction increased to an all-time high.
Our Consumer division grew the number of customers across all its core products, as we use all our retail brands to become more relevant for more households.
Our transformation continued ahead of plan, more than offsetting headwinds.
We are increasingly a simpler, more UK-focused business having sold five non-core international businesses and carved out BT International.
All of this, and much more, meant we delivered on our financial guidance for the year and adjusting for divestments, we grew EBITDA, keeping us on track for the cashflow inflection we have promised.

Build

Building the best, most trusted digital networks

BT is building the UK's digital backbone -faster, further and more efficiently than anyone else. Whether it's full fibre, 5G+, our five million public Wi-Fi hotspots or new partnerships in areas like satellite, we're innovating to provide a more seamless connectivity experience for everyone, at a national scale. Our network infrastructure is intelligent and built for the future: secure and resilient, safe and, where it's needed, sovereign by design.

Full fibre is the UK's most reliable broadband technology. Ours is a wholly owned full fibre platform, and will become the largest overall in Europe by the end of 2026. FY26 was another record-breaking year for our Openreach full fibre build and connections. We now reach 23 million homes and businesses (more than two thirds of the UK) and already connect more than 8.8m of them.

In mobile, we extended our clear network leadership even further, with EE awarded the UK's best mobile network in three separate awards. We also brought 5G+ to 73% of the population and extended our 5G footprint to reach 90.5%. From boosting mobile capacity in the busiest urban areas to becoming the first operator to switch on mobile coverage in some of the hardest-to-reach areas across the

UK, our connectivity is transforming lives, work and communities, and fuelling

local economies.

A message from our Chief Executive (continued)

We support more businesses

than any other network and connect more homes than anyone else.

Connect

Connecting customers

so they thrive, as we grow, in a digital world

Of course, building the best networks alone is not enough. To make it easier and safer for everyone to live and work in an increasingly complex and more digital age, it takes the best brands, products, services and technology solutions.

Across BT, we support more businesses than any other network and connect more homes than anyone else. We make these connections through four trusted brands: BT, EE, Plusnet and Openreach. Each of our brands means different things to different people - and in FY26 we grew customer satisfaction across all of them, as we saw increased demand for our next-generation networks and products.

In our Consumer division it was a year of firsts. We became the first major mobile network to launch under 18s smartphone plans - Safer SIMs - designed to support young people at different stages of their digital development. EE became the first major provider to offer WiFi 7 smart hub tech as standard across all full fibre plans. And as we use all three of our retail brands -BT, EE and Plusnet - our Consumer division increased the number of customers they serve across mobile, broadband and TV for the first year in eight. More than half of our broadband customers are now on full fibre, and we also increased the share of our homes that take more than one service from us (now up to 27%).

In Business, we led the way on digital sovereignty, introducing the UK's first end-to-end suite of sovereign services to help UK private and public sector customers enhance their security in the face of growing geopolitical instability. We made significant wins in the public and private sectors including BAE Systems, NIE Networks, and easyJet; and partnerships with Nscale and CrowdStrike.

And for smaller businesses, we launched BT Business Antivirus Detect and Respond: bringing the same AI-powered cyber security trusted by the world's biggest companies to smaller businesses.

Through an investment of over £8m,

27 of our retail stores across the UK were transformed to become experiential stores during the year. This will enable more people to get hands-on with the latest connected tech and find out how it can enhance their lives. We also introduced business experts into all 400 of our high-street premises across the UK to provide face-to-face support at community level.

And we continue to support customers to innovate and compete. This year we were appointed the official technology supplier for Emirates Great Britain SailGP - using two dedicated slices of our 5G+ network: one to keep fans connected to the event experience and another to ensure seamless operations for organisers behind the scenes. We also deepened our partnerships with the world's leading tech brands. Whether that's with Apple, Samsung, Cisco, Meta, Qualcomm and Google to bring the latest products to our customers, with Ericsson and Nokia to expand AI in our networks, with Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, ServiceNow and Salesforce to improve the way we work, or with CrowdStrike and Norton to protect our customers with advanced cyber security. This year we also announced an agreement with Starlink to bring satellite connectivity to BT and EE consumer broadband customers in the hardest-to-reach locations.

Accelerate

Accelerating our modernisation, to restore leadership in everything we do

We are keeping up the pace on our modernisation and transformation, so that we become a simpler, more agile, digital and better BT.

This year we continued to sharpen our focus on the UK - completing all non-core divestments internationally. Having carved out BT International with new leadership, we're moving rapidly to reshape it as a next-generation, asset-light telco platform business.

We are diligently addressing our cost base, quarter on quarter, year on year. This year we closed two legacy networks, made even more progress with customer migrations and further simplified our IT estate. We

are delivering ahead of plan on the £3bn transformation programme we announced two years ago, while boosting our resilience and setting us up for the future. This has enabled us to raise our overall transformation plan target to £3.7bn from £3.0bn extending the programme by one year to FY30.

Our transformation programme is not just about cost. It is fundamentally improving how we operate, with simpler processes, better ways of working and the early benefits of AI starting to come through. We completed the Better Workplace programme, our UK office transformation plan, with the opening of our flagship new Manchester office. This brought to a close the multi-year upgrade which has seen us consolidate our office spaces from around 300 to closer to 30 key locations nationwide. In addition, thousands of colleagues are now benefiting from our AI Mastery Programme, giving them the skills, confidence and opportunity to use AI in their everyday work.

3million

customers moved away from

the legacy Public Switched Telephone Network to date

To date we have moved more than three million UK households to digital landlines, providing a safer, more reliable service ahead of the closure of the outdated copper-based Public Switched Telephone Network in January 2027 - alongside dedicated support for vulnerable people and Critical National Infrastructure customers. The move away from inefficient legacy networks has helped us reduce energy usage in our networks by 6%, saving costs as well as reducing our

impact on the environment.

Of course, connections must come with capability - with all of us ready to get the most out of digital services at home and at work. Over the last decade, our work to close the digital divide has supported many millions of older people, those

at the beginning of their career and small business owners with free digital skills training.

Our partnership with AbilityNet is a great example: taking free support directly into communities, creating safe, welcoming spaces where people can build confidence at their own pace. Together, we've supported nearly 20,000 over-65s with free training, with over 11,500 benefitting from the courses in the last year alone.

We're also protecting against growing online threats and changing risks in a digital world - blocking four million scam attempts per day, leading the industry on fraud prevention and defending people and businesses from cyber criminals (who scan individual devices more than 4,000 times a day looking for a way in).

The people behind BT

Our people are the beating heart of BT, from our front-line guides to our field engineers, those in our office hubs to our BT family around the world. I'd like

to say a big thank you to every one of our colleagues and partners who has worked together to contribute to the progress we are making as a company.

This year we began an ambitious, company-wide culture reset to embed a set of new behaviours across the business and bring all our colleagues together as 'One BT'. Having worked with our people on the behaviours that they believe will create a better BT for all of us, we are now building the habits that will make us show up as 'customer first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected'. Our new behaviours define what a united, ambitious, customer focused, culture looks and feels like, and our employee engagement is now at the highest it's been in recent years.

This year I welcomed new members to my leadership team. As part of a series of planned succession moves, Katie Milligan became CEO of Openreach, succeeding Clive Selley who became CEO of International, and Greg McCall became Chief Security and Networks Officer. We also welcomed Peter Leukert as Chief Digital Officer and Leslie McGibbon joined as Chief Corporate Affairs and Brand Officer.

Another year of strong delivery

To close, it's a been another year of progress. We hit our ambitious fibre build target, extended our mobile leadership, grew the number of Consumer customers and households we serve, and drove up customer satisfaction across all our brands - all while exceeding our transformation objectives.

We took important steps to embed a new company-wide culture that is centred on delivering for our customers and our owners.

And since the year end, I'm excited to say that we have put BT and our colleagues back in the spotlight, with a suite of new products and services and our biggest campaign this decade - reigniting one of Britain's most iconic brands and celebrating our unique role in connecting, protecting and supercharging the UK.

Looking forward, we have plans to bring full fibre to 30 million UK homes and businesses, beyond the existing target to reach 25 million premises by the end of 2026. We will also expand 5G+ coverage to 99% of the population by Spring 2030. And we are now setting an expanded digital inclusion ambition: to reach 30 million people and businesses with digital skills, tools and support by 2030.

There is much more to do to realise BT's full potential, but as 'One BT' team we are laser focused on achieving it, and creating a better BT for all of us - our customers, our colleagues, the country and our owners.

Allison Kirkby Chief Executive 20 May 2026

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 8 Strategic report

Executive Committee

‌The Executive Committee is chaired by the Chief Executive. So there

is a single point of accountability, the Chief Executive (or a delegate) takes all the decisions.

The Executive Committee provides input and recommendations to help the Chief Executive:

develop the group strategy and budget for Board approval
execute the strategy once the Board approves it
assure the Board on overall performance and how we're managing risks.
Allison Kirkby
Chief Executive
Appointed: Chief Executive February 2024. Appointed to the
Board March 2019
Simon Lowth
Chief Financial Officer
Appointed:
July 2016
Sabine Chalmers
General Counsel, Company Secretary and
Director Regulatory Affairs
Appointed:
General Counsel
April 2018. Appointed Director Regulatory Affairs and Company Secretary in May
and September 2021 respectively
Claire Gillies
CEO, Consumer
Appointed:
April 2025
Jon James
CEO, Business
Appointed:
April 2025
Peter Leukert
Chief Digital Officer
Appointed:
September 2025

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 9 Strategic report
Greg McCall
Chief Security and Networks Officer
Appointed:
January 2026
Leslie McGibbon
Chief Corporate Affairs and Brand Officer
Appointed:
December 2025
Tom Meakin
Chief Strategy and Change Officer
Appointed:
November 2024
Clive Selley
CEO, International
Appointed:
April 2026
Alison Wilcox
Chief People & Culture Officer
Appointed:
June 2025
Katie Milligan
CEO, Openreach
Appointed:
April 2026
Under the provisions of the Commitments, Openreach's CEO cannot be a member of the Executive Committee. Katie attends Executive Committee meetings
as appropriate
Key changes
The following changes to the Executive Committee
took place during the year:
Peter Leukert joined as Chief Digital Officer
Leslie McGibbon joined as Chief Corporate Affairs and Brand Officer
Howard Watson stood down as Chief Security and Networks Officer on leaving BT Group
Greg McCall was appointed as Chief Security and Networks Officer
Athalie Williams stood down as Chief People & Culture Officer on leaving BT Group
Alison Wilcox joined as Chief People & Culture Officer
Bas Burger stood down as CEO, International on leaving BT Group
Clive Selley stood down as CEO, Openreach and became CEO, International
Katie Milligan was appointed as CEO, Openreach succeeding Clive Selley
We have also announced that Patricia Cobian will join the Executive Committee on 20 July 2026 as Chief Financial Officer Designate and succeed Simon Lowth as Chief Financial Officer on 1 September 2026.
You can find the biographies of the Executive Committee at bt.com/exco

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 10 Strategic report
Our business model
‌WE CONNECT FOR GOOD

WHO WE ARE
BT Group is a trusted connector of people, business and society.
We build and run the country's largest fixed network and
best mobile network.
We design, build, market, sell and support network access,
connectivity and related products. We provide connectivity solutions that are essential to modern
life - broadband, mobile, TV, networking, security and
IT services.
We also offer handsets, network equipment, consumer electronics, gaming and insurance to help our customers connect, communicate, share, be entertained and do business safely and securely.
WHO WE CONNECT
We operate in retail and wholesale markets, delivering what our customers need through connectivity and curated solutions - working closely with our partners.
INDIVIDUALS AND HOUSEHOLDS
We help individuals and households do more. Our mobile, broadband, landline and entertainment services support our customers at home, at work and on-the-go.
We offer a range of propositions across our three brands: BT, EE and Plusnet. Consumers can select the brands, products and services that best suit their needs, from pay-as-you-go mobile plans, to full fibre broadband with cyber threat protection - all with a variety of financing options and support models.
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS
We support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and larger private and public sector organisations. We help them operate securely and productively with connectivity, networking, cyber security, collaboration tools, cloud connectivity and cloud services.
Larger businesses and public sector customers typically buy managed solutions that help them protect, operate and grow, while driving their digital transformations.
COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS (CPs)
We provide regulated wholesale access to Openreach's fixed access network infrastructure to more than 700 CPs -including our own Consumer and Business units. CPs also buy various connectivity solutions from our Business unit.
BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 11 Strategic report

HOW WE'RE CONNECTED
BT Group is made up of customer-facing units, technology units and corporate functions. We share resources across our networks, technology, colleagues and brands to deliver the best outcomes for our stakeholders. To meet UK regulatory requirements and uphold our commitments, Openreach operates independently.
CUSTOMER-FACING UNITS (CFUs)
Our four CFUs focus on distinct segments - each with unique priorities and needs. Together, they aim to provide standout customer experiences through tailored solutions which generate revenue and build trust.
Consumer
- Serves individuals and households with connectivity products and services.
- Provides 8.2 million broadband and
  15.7 million mobile connections.
- Reaches 13.1 million households, which is more than 45% of all UK homes.

Business

Serves businesses of all sizes, other CPs and public sector organisations with connectivity and
additional solutions like cyber security.
Supports almost 1 million private and public

sector organisations and over 1,200 wholesale customers.

Internationala

Serves multinational customers with products and platforms to address the challenges and opportunities of AI-driven change.
Two next-gen platforms, Global Voice and Global Fabric are designed to deliver secure, resilient communication and network services around the world to support customers' operations and growth.
Openreach
Independently manages our fixed access network, connecting millions of UK homes, businesses, public sites and
mobile towers.
Leads the build of the UK's full fibre network, with 23 million premises passed.
Operates the UK's largest wholesale broadband and Ethernet network, supplying network services to more than 700 CPs.

a BT International was launched in July 2025 as a dedicated operation within BT Group

TECHNOLOGY UNITS (TUs)

CORPORATE FUNCTIONS (CFs)

Our TUs build, run and maintain our networks, platforms and digital assets - apart from the fixed access infrastructure which Openreach runs and commercialises. They modernise and secure our business through innovation and research & development (R&D).

Our two TUs are:

Digital: enables BT to meet customer and colleague needs by providing secure, sustainable IT and digital platforms on future proof technology.

Networks: designs, builds, runs and protects our mobile, core and global networks.

Our CFs operate at group level, setting direction and defining governance frameworks, ensuring we're aligned across our activities. They make us more efficient through centralised capabilities and shared services.

Our five CFs are:

Finance and Business Services; Strategy and Change; People and Culture; Legal, Regulatory Affairs, Compliance and Company Secretariat; Corporate Affairs and Brand.

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 12 Strategic report

Our business model (continued)

THE UK'S

MOST TRUSTED CONNECTORS

Read more about our ambition on pages 18 and 19

Connecting, protecting and supercharging the UK.

Across BT, we support more businesses than any other network and connect more homes than anyone else. We protect the UK from cyber threats daily, and supercharge the country with digital skills, services and tech leadership that helps us all thrive in a digital world.

Read more on page 24

Most satisfied and loyal customers

Most engaged and empowered colleagues

Positively impacting the country

Generating superior returns for our owners

Sustained UK service revenue growth

EBITDA growth ahead of revenue

NFCF CAGR

c.20% to £3bn

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 20 Strategic report

Progress against our strategic priorities

‌We're building the best, most trusted digital networks.

BUILD

MAKING FULL FIBRE REACH FURTHER

Openreach engineers are proving no community is too remote to reach, with full fibre now available for over

1.9 million homes and businesses across Yorkshire and the Humber.

This includes Old Tithe Cottage, a remote rural retreat run by York Against Cancer for local people affected by cancer.

1.9

Reliable connectivity now helps guests stay in touch with loved ones, access entertainment, manage appointments and feel less isolated - helping to create the calm, relaxing space the cottage was designed to provide.

homes and businesses across Yorkshire passed with full fibre

MAKING FAST FEEL NORMAL

EE's 5G+ network now reaches nearly 73% of the UK population, and is set to reach 99% by 2030. We want to make fast, reliable mobile connectivity universal, not the exception.

This year, our 5G+ network powered some of the country's biggest sporting and musical moments. We helped make Wembley the first major UK sports venue with permanent 5G+, and enabled SailGP to use advanced network slicing to keep

critical event operations running smoothly, even in the busiest environments.

We aim to reach 99% 5G+ UK population coverage by the end of FY30

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 21 Strategic report

TWELVE YEARS ON TOP

RootMetrics named EE the UK's best mobile network for the twelfth year running - a record-breaking twenty-fifth time in totala.

The in-depth testing measures real-world performance in towns and cities across the country, assessing speed, reliability and overall experience. The award reflects our ongoing investment in our network's speed, reliability and coverage - and

the benefits for the communities and businesses who rely on EE every day.

years as the UK's best mobile network

TURNING FOOTFALL INTO FORESIGHT

BT Active Intelligence provides aggregated, anonymised retail footfall data to the Office for National Statistics, to help show shifts in footfall activity across the UK.

Updated weekly and monthly, these insights - derived from processing 25 billion daily data points from EE's mobile network - help the Office for National Statistics (ONS) monitor short-term social and economic trends at both national and regional level.

Used alongside other data, including traditional, survey-based statistics, this helps decision-makers respond to change with greater speed and confidence.

data points from EE's mobile network processed daily

a All rankings based on the RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report: H2 2025. Tested at locations across the UK with the best commercially available smartphones on four national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE. Visit ee.co.uk/claims for more details.

Progress against our strategic priorities

Build (continued)

23m

UK homes and businesses can now get full fibre

The best FTTP everywhere in the UK

We're deploying full fibre everywhere in the UK to provide exceptional network performance and fast, reliable, resilient connectivity.

This year we continued the rollout at pace - and at a low cost per premises. We passed

4.8 million more homes and businesses, meaning that 23 million UK premises can now get full fibre, including 6.3 million in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

We also announced our ambition to bring full fibre to up to 30 million UK homes and businesses. This goes beyond the existing target to reach 25 million premises by the end of 2026.

Demand for full fibre is high. Our take up rate of fibre services by our customers remains the highest amongst all major fibre providers, at more than 38%.

The best, most resilient mobile network

Our mobile network is the nation's best for reliability, consistency and performance.

RootMetrics' independent assessment found that EE is the UK's fastest and most reliable mobile network, and best 5G, video, and gaming provider. And with Umlaut naming EE as the best performing mobile network, we're now the highest-scoring UK operator in history.

We continue to boost coverage and performance across our mobile network.

This year we expanded 5G+ coverage to reach 73% of the population, and announced our ambition to reach 99% by the end of FY30.

We also recently announced plans to make network slicing capabilities available to consumer and business customers nationwide later this summer. This will mark a step change in how people can depend on their mobile network, even

at times of peak demand.

This year we also invested £13m in new high-capacity 5G spectrum in the 26GHz and 40GHz bands. This will enable us to use up to 1800MHz of mmWave spectrum bandwidth in future to boost network capacity and performance in some of the UK's busiest areas for mobile traffic. And also support new services like ultra-reliable high-performance private networks.

Umlaut award

Umlaut Connect named EE as the UK's best mobile network for the 11th consecutive year. After becoming the first UK operator to break the 900-point barrier, EE went even further, with a record score of 920. More than just an award, this recognition proves that our ongoing investment in network quality is delivering for customers.

11th

consecutive year as the UK's best mobile network

Building full fibre, faster

Openreach, alongside BT Research, has developed a novel approach to deploying full fibre in direct-in-ground housing estates, designed to cut disruption, reduce costs, and accelerate rollout.

By combining slotcutting with trenchless robotics, using components designed in-house, the approach delivers a step change in efficiency. Productivity has increased by 150%, with the cost to build reduced significantly, allowing extended coverage of FTTP and helping to close the digital divide.

The new method also reduces waste and lowers carbon impact. Its impact has already been recognised, winning multiple awards at the 2025 Streetworks Awards, including Innovation Excellence.

The best network, differentiating us from the competition

Our broadband, mobile and Wi-Fi infrastructure form a converged network that helps us stand out. Complementing our fibre and mobile networks, in November, we announced a partnership with Starlink to bring reliable, high-speed, low-latency satellite connectivity to rural or remote BT and EE customers. This year we've also expanded our public Wi-Fi footprint to more than 6.3 million hotspots.

We continue to improve performance across our fixed and mobile networks. This year we saw a significant drop in repairs needed across our fixed network, reducing disruption for broadband customers. We also became the first major UK Internet Service Provider to trial XGS-PON technology on Openreach's full fibre network, offering customers speeds of up to 8Gbps.

18%

reduction in Openreach repair volumes

We also continued to optimise mobile network hardware and software performance and coverage. This has reduced dropped call locations across the UK road network by 30%, and overall dropped calls by 12% this year, helping customers to stay better connected on the move.

Leadership in network innovation for the country

While we keep investing in our established products, we're incubating the next generation of products designed for

a new wave of connected devices.

As autonomous systems and physical AI technologies like drones and software-defined vehicles scale, we're developing the advanced connectivity solutions that our customers will need in the future.

That includes solutions like combining our cellular Drone SIM with multi-layered connectivity and edge capabilities to ensure resilient, always-on connectivity.

Our real-world trials with customers and partners are making sure these technologies can operate securely and reliably in complex, mission-critical

environments, unlocking new commercial and societal applications.

As more devices connect to our network, we're also unlocking the value of the data they generate in new, privacy-aware ways. Our BT Active Intelligence product turns aggregated and anonymised network insights into powerful tools for decision making, while maintaining the highest standards of trust and compliance. This is supporting national economic monitoring with the ONS, and is helping companies like JCDecaux better understand and reach their UK audiences.

We also continue investing in the transformational technologies shaping the future of our industry.

We're advancing the UK's transition to a quantum-ready future through the development of quantum-secure networking to enhance network performance and resilience.

Our open innovation approach with global partners like NVIDIA is helping define standards for the next generation of connectivity. That includes industry commitments to build 6G on open, secure, AI-native platforms that embed intelligence into the network.

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 24 Strategic report

Progress against our strategic priorities (continued)

‌We're connecting customers so they thrive,

as we grow, in a digital world.

CONNECT

LOVED AND TRUSTED BRANDS

At BT, we serve millions of customers every day, and we're committed to strengthening the brands they trust to connect their lives, homes and businesses.

Having invested heavily in our networks in recent years, this is now the moment to invest further in our brands, products and services so that more customers and more of the country can experience the benefits of being connected to BT.

This year BT marks a new chapter, with a campaign that celebrates the best of the UK and shines a light on the role BT plays Behind Brilliant Things. BT is introducing a suite of enhanced products and services designed for the millions of consumers and businesses who rely on safe, secure connectivity - and launching new mobile plans exclusively for BT Broadband customers.

We will do this alongside our EE and Plusnet brands, each offering distinct propositions shaped through deep insight and understanding of their customers.

THE UK'S BACKBONE FOR A DIGITAL FUTURE

As digital resilience becomes a growing priority for UK organisations, we have launched a new sovereign services platform.

Bringing together sovereign connectivity, voice, cloud and AI services, the platform is designed to keep data and operations secure, compliant, resilient, and future-proof.

Built on BT's unique UK infrastructure and expertise, it gives public and private-sector customers the confidence to invest in the digital tools and technologies they need to thrive in an increasingly uncertain world.

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 25 Strategic report

BACK WHERE BUSINESSES NEED US

Business is back on the high street, bringing expert support directly into local communities.

We're now providing dedicated Business experts across our high-street stores, meaning businesses can get face-to-face advice from experts who understand connectivity, technology, and the growth challenges they face.

We know that many small businesses are keen to adopt new technologies utilising AI and the cloud, but are unsure how best to do so. Speaking directly to someone who understands their challenges can help them find the right solutions quickly.

It's a practical way to help small firms solve problems faster, build confidence, and access the tools they need to succeed.

BUILDING NATIONAL CAPABILITY

We're working with NVIDIA to advance AI in the UK.

As a founding member of the UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum, established with NVIDIA and other leading UK organisations, we're supporting a resilient, responsible national AI ecosystem. At the same time, our AI-driven operations are improving network performance, efficiency and customer experience. This collaboration shows how

AI innovation and close industry cooperation can deliver benefits for customers, companies, and the UK.

"The development of AI and data centre infrastructure is key to unlocking economic growth in the UK, and is only possible with the best, most trusted networks at the foundation."

Jon James / CEO, Business

Progress against our strategic priorities

Connect (continued)

33.4

Record high NPS

Group NPS (FY26)

The most loved and trusted brands

National Broadband Provider of the Year

EE was named National Broadband Provider of the Year at the 2026 Uswitch Telecoms Awards.

Customers highlighted EE as "the most trusted brand for households seeking a seamless, high-performance connection".

It also won Fastest Mobile Network, Best Telecoms Bundle Provider, and Best Telecoms Innovation, with voters highlighting the speed, reliability, and seamlessness of its home broadband solutions.

Our Net Promoter Score is now at a record high 33.4. This is 4.1 points up from last year after four consecutive quarters of growth. We're committed to continuing

to grow loyalty and satisfaction by offering the best connectivity products and improving our customer experience across our three retail brands - BT, EE

and Plusnet.

BT has always been at the heart of British life, quietly powering the systems, services and institutions the nation relies on. Across BT, we support more businesses than any other network, connect more homes than anyone else and protect the UK from cyber threats every hour of every day.

BT plays an important role, connecting, protecting and supercharging our customers' digital lives and businesses - to drive even more trust and loyalty with our consumer and business customers. This will be the foundation for new products and services that we're rolling out over the

next year.

EE continues to go from strength to strength, with more converged customers than ever. EE has built on its status as the nation's best network, with the largest customer base, to become the UK's fastest-growing broadband provider.

We see customers choosing Plusnet for its clear and straightforward pricing, value for money and customer service. This year Plusnet won the Uswitch Telecoms award for Best Broadband Provider for Customer Service for the 11th time, and was recognised as a Which? recommended provider for the second year in a row.

The best connectivity products for life and work

Our converged consumer base on combined fixed and mobile propositions continued to grow this year, as we scaled EE One. EE One brings customers' broadband and mobile connectivity together under a single EE account to unlock savings and simplify how households manage their connectivity.

We continue to evolve our product offerings to better meet our customers' needs. This year EE became the first major UK provider to offer WiFi 7 as standard across all full fibre broadband plans. WiFi 7 is the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology, supporting more connected devices at lower latency and improving capacity, speeds and performance.

EE also launched Safer SIMs, becoming the first major UK network to offer under-18 SIM-only plans with pre-set parental controls and built-in safety features, helping families to make choices about smartphone usage safely and confidently. And in January, EE launched a range of refurbished smartphones with airtime, offering customers a high quality, more sustainable and cost-effective way to upgrade their handsets.

In Business, we launched a sovereign services platform. It offers secure UK-based voice, cloud and AI capabilities to help organisations protect their data, be more resilient and meet emerging digital sovereignty needs. We also introduced a secure click-to-install eSIM capability for business customers. It lets them set up mobile services seamlessly, sustainably and at scale.

Our expanding 5G+ network continues to underpin premium mobile experiences for consumers and advanced use cases for our business customers, including network slicing and private connectivity.

And, we continue to support the UK's transition from analogue to digital ahead of the January 2027 Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch off -migrating customers to all-IP networks while safeguarding vulnerable users and critical services.

"We start by putting our customers first, taking the time to really listen to what matters in their everyday lives. Those insights guide us to create the products and propositions that keep pace with their changing needs. "

Claire Gillies / CEO, Consumer

TV that fits real life

EE TV is designed around how people really watch. No more arguing over the remote -families can watch different shows, in a different room, with an extra EE TV box. Flexible packages let customers change their content bundles each month. And this year, EE became the UK's first pay-TV service to offer AI Smart Search, enabling viewers to speak into their remote to easily search for movies or shows by theme, mood, plot or even favourite line.

of smart TV screen time is spent finding what to watch

The most effortless, personalised experiences

We're continuously improving our digital journeys and propositions so consumer and business customers have more seamless and secure experiences.

In Consumer, we've digitised more in-life journeys across Mobile and Home so customers can self-serve online or on the app. This has simplified things like ordering and resolving queries and has cut the average time customers need to spend on the phone to us by almost three minutes. We've refreshed the My BT app, so customers can manage their services more seamlessly. And this year we opened more EE experience stores to make our support more human and personal. We now have 61 stores across the UK.

This year we made it easier for Business customers to engage with us, combining in-person access with simpler, more joined-up digital sales and service journeys. For example, 58% of managed service interactions are now handled digitally on the strategic ServiceNow platform. And BT high street stores now offer business customers face-to-face access to advice, practical support and the right solutions for their needs. In-store experts

help customers navigate everything from connectivity and cloud services to automation tools and cyber security.

This omnichannel approach gives customers consistent, informed support whether they walk in, book time online or manage their services digitally.

The best partners for solutions beyond connectivity

This year we worked closely with our partners to continue helping our customers thrive in the digital world.

Our partnership with Cisco continues to set new standards for smart, secure and sustainable workplace solutions - earning us Cisco Partner of the Year for Enterprise Networking across the UK, EMEA

and globally.

Our TV customer base kept growing this year in partnership with YouView. We launched DAZN on EE TV, and moved our sports joint venture, TNT Sports, to its new streaming home on HBO Max. And in partnership with Sky streaming platform NOW, we gave EE TV entertainment customers access to HBO Max Basic within their entertainment subscription, making our TV bundles richer than ever.

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 28 Strategic report

Progress against our strategic priorities (continued)

‌We're accelerating our modernisation to restore leadership in everything we do.

ACCELERATE

A CULTURE SHAPED BY OUR COLLEAGUES

Nearly 27,000 of our colleagues helped shape our new behaviours, by telling us how they want to work: as customer first challengers, who are committed, clear, and connected.

These behaviours will set the standard for our culture, guiding everything from our

policies to our business decisions and day-to-day work. Since our new behaviours are also being adopted by Openreach, they'll bring colleagues together across the Group,

and help us deliver for each other, our customers, and the country.

"If we get this right, it will feel different -a place with real clarity, momentum and purpose where people feel trusted to make decisions."

Allison Kirkby / CEO

27,000

Nearly

SHARPER FOCUS, CLEARER FUTURE

BT has sharpened its focus on the UK by completing five international disposals this year.

The result is a simpler, more agile business with greater clarity of purpose. By concentrating resources where we can create the most value, we're better positioned to invest, grow and deliver the next phase of our transformation.

colleagues helped shape our new behaviours

BT Group plc Annual Report 2026 29 Strategic report

USING AI TO ACCELERATE ENGINEERING

BT's engineering teams are using AI-assisted development tools to automate repetitive work like coding, testing, and modernising legacy systems.

Thousands of our engineers use these tools every day, with millions of lines of code passing quality standards every month. By reducing low-value tasks, AI is freeing our engineers to move faster, improve quality and resilience, and focus on more high-impact work.

SAFER STARTS ON SMARTPHONES

This year EE launched Safer SIMs, becoming the first major network to offer dedicated smartphone plans for under-18s.

Available on any smartphone device, Safer SIMs plans include built-in content controls, scam protection, and features that help kids stay connected even if their allowance runs out. Like the online safety support we provide in-store, Safer SIMs is another

step in making EE the UK's most trusted network for families.

Progress against our strategic priorities

Accelerate (continued)

One team with a customer first delivery culture

We're starting to become simpler and more collaborative, with a customer first culture.

This year we focused on creating a more engaged, upskilled and effective organisation. We continued enhancing our digital and AI capabilities to bring in the talent needed to supercharge our transformation, and strengthened our leadership with changes to the Executive Committee and new senior appointments.

Despite lots of transformation and change, colleague engagement stayed strong this year at 76%, above the 71% UK benchmark. Our commitment to customer experience was reflected in the putting customers first score, which increased to 89% across the year. And, our colleagues also felt high levels of empowerment to find better ways to do things, at 84%, outperforming the global high-performing benchmarks by two percentage points and the UK's by eight percentage points.

We also launched and are embracing five new behaviours to support a clearer, more customer-focused culture. Openreach has adopted the same behaviours, bringing us together to work better across teams, and build the leadership and capabilities we need for the future. This helps us deliver for all our stakeholders, including our customers, colleagues and the country.

You can read more about our new behaviours on page 34.

A radically simpler portfolio, products and platforms

This year we simplified our portfolio, products and platforms to focus on the UK market, reduce our cost base and boost customer experience.

We have divested five international businesses, and continue to evaluate solutions for other non-core assets.

To simplify our networks, we closed our Ethernet in the First Mile network and Redcare operations. We also continued switching customers from our legacy PSTN to digital. We're making good progress, with over 1.9m connections upgraded in FY26. We're also reducing the number of exchanges. This year we hit an important milestone in closing the Deddington exchange without disruption.

We made things simpler for our customers and colleagues by decommissioning 137 applications, and cutting our portfolio of Business products from 158 to 141. We also moved Business sales to a new platform to help us centralise customer data and manage customer relationships.

Our cost transformation remains on track. We continue to create a simpler BT Group, with excellent progress on energy and productivity. We have already realised

£1.5bn in cost reduction and we have extended our previously 5-year transformation programme by one year to FY30 to enable the delivery of £3.7bn of cost savings, delivering efficiencies across all units. Total labour resource fell 7% year-on-year to below 108,000, direct

labour fell by 10%, and our energy usage in our networks was down 6% this year.

IT, enabled by data and AI, as a real competitive advantage

We're building stronger IT, data and AI capabilities for competitive advantage, better productivity and a faster and more reliable service. In Consumer, we improved our generative-AI-enabled EE virtual assistant Aimee to give better answers to customer queries, automated interaction summarisation to reduce handling time and implemented real-time prompts to increase conversion rates. Internally, we're using AI tools in engineering and software development. Nearly 5,000 colleagues now use them to write and maintain around

6.5 million lines of code a year - and to deliver higher-quality features quicker. We're also working with AWS to introduce AI Ops capability into our mobile network -gradually moving to a self-healing,

autonomous dark NOC (Network Operations Centre) by integrating AI and machine learning.

Trusted leader for digital inclusion, resilience and sustainability

We keep building trust with stakeholders through our work on digital inclusion, resilience and sustainability - and our ongoing commitment to the human rights of those our business touches. You can read more in our Responsible Business Addendum 2026 (bt.com/addendum).

Digital inclusion Digital inclusion is central to our purpose of connecting for good, and our role as the UK's largest fixed and mobile connectivity provider. We focus on access, affordability, skills and safety, supporting children and families, older and underserved groups, and SMBs.

We continue to invest in fast, secure and resilient connectivity across the UK - our full fibre network now reaches 6.3 million premises in harder-to-reach areas. We're the market leader in low-price tariffs, supporting around 845,000 low income and vulnerable customers to ensure affordability is not a barrier to digital access, particularly in the face of ongoing financial pressures.

When speed saves lives

EE is proud to provide mobile services for the government's Emergency Services Network (ESN).

This critical communications system sends fast, secure, mission-critical voice, video, and data across the 4G network, so first responders get instant access to life-saving information, in situations

where every second counts.

And as the UK prepares for the 2027 PSTN switch-off, we're supporting vulnerable customers to transition safely to Digital Voice. You can read more about our approach on page 33.

Since setting our digital skills goal in 2015, we've supported a total of 23.3 million people in the UK, and we're now extending our ambition, to reach 30 million people and businesses with digital skills, tools and support by 2030.

This year, we've reached a further 42,000 people through a number of initiatives, including:

helping over 11,500 older and disabled people build confidence and stay safe online through our partnership with AbilityNet
helping children and families use technology more safely through initiatives such as Safer SIMs
helping more than 15,000 SMBs improve productivity, cyber security and AI capabilities through workshops, mentoring and our Digital Skills Hub.
This year we also committed support to the Government's Digital Inclusion Action Plan and joined The Connection Project - a national alliance helping people thrive in a digital society. We're also proud to be part of a Government and industry partnership aiming to provide AI skills training to 10 million UK workers by 2030.
Resilience
We continue to strengthen our network to reduce outages and ensure reliable connection for all our customers. Trust depends not only on the strength of our infrastructure, but on how we respond when things go wrong. We're committed to learning from incidents, supporting customers, and working with regulators to make our networks more reliable.
We continue to deliver mobile services for the Government's critical Emergency Services Network (ESN). We also enable the UK's Emergency Alert system, a public safety initiative developed to warn citizens about major incidents such as severe flooding or extreme weather.
Our Starlink partnership offers extra back up for customers in the UK's most remote areas. After Storm Amy severely damaged infrastructure on the island of Tiree in October 2025, Starlink was part of our response, while our engineers worked to restore full service to residents.
Sustainability We're working towards becoming a net zero and circular business, lowering emissions, reducing waste and delivering better commercial outcomes. In our own operations, we're focused on decarbonising our network through modernisation and improved energy efficiency. We've continued to electrify our fleet, with over 7,900 electric vehicles (EVs)
now rolled out, and all new business-needs company car orders are now EV-only. Thanks to these efforts, we've cut our operational emissions by 61% since FY17.
We continued our decarbonisation engagement this year with key suppliers to address Scope 3 emissions. Suppliers representing more than 63% of our supply chain emissions disclosed to us through CDP. And we're working with the Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC) on emission reduction plans for key products and services. Since FY17, our supply chain emissions have fallen by 33%.
Circularity remains a critical lever for us to cut emissions and use resources more efficiently. We helped customers do the responsible thing with their tech by collecting around 3.5 million devices for reuse and recycling. We also repaired nearly 53,000 smartphones and expanded our range of refurbished phones. And across our operations, we diverted 86% of waste away from landfill.
Our actions are externally recognised. We achieved a CDP climate 'A' rating for a tenth year, were named in Time and Statista's World's Most Sustainable Companies 2025 and featured in the Financial Times 2025 Europe Climate Leaders list.
You can read more about our sustainability ambitions and progress in
our Responsible Business Addendum 2026 (bt.com/addendum).
Our stakeholders
‌DELIVERING FOR ALL
Through our strategy we aim to create meaningful outcomes for all of our stakeholders - from earning the loyalty of our customers and empowering our colleagues, to delivering positive impact across the UK and generating strong, sustainable returns for our owners.

Our customers, colleagues, the country we do business in (including its communities, government and regulators), our owners, suppliers and partners are the key stakeholders we deliver for.
We engage with them at every level of our organisation, from frontline teams to senior leadership, the Executive Committee and the Board. This happens in lots of different ways - from meetings and conferences to reviews, forums, webcasts and events.
To understand how well we're connecting with different groups, the Board and its Committees receive regular updates from teams across the business - as well as hearing directly from stakeholders themselves.
These insights enable them to make better decisions, provide valuable feedback, and challenge our activities, programmes and initiatives to make sure we're on the
right track.
Closing the digital age gap
BT is partnering with AbilityNet to help older people and people with disabilities stay connected and protected online. Our free in-person sessions and online webinars have already helped nearly 20,000 people across the UK, including 11,500 last year.
Delivered in welcoming spaces like community centres and libraries, the training helps learners spot scams and benefit from everyday technology.
20,000
people across the UK have already been helped

‌Customers
Our customer base spans individuals and households, through small businesses to multinational corporations and public sector organisations.
Our aim is to help them live and work better. That starts with them getting outstanding experiences that build trust and loyalty. And to do that we must personally engage with them to understand their needs and priorities -today and in the future.
Our customers want us to:
provide connectivity that works wherever they need it, balancing value for money with outstanding network performance and coverage
deliver high-quality, seamless and personalised experiences
protect them with enhanced safety and security wherever they go, keeping their data safe and safeguarding their families or customers from threats.
How we engage with customers:
Our colleagues in service, sales and our contact centres speak to customers every day to understand their needs, fix problems and keep them connected.
Our insight team uses primary research and internal and external data to build a picture of what customers want and need from us.
Our CFUs, Executive Committee and the Board regularly review metrics such as NPS to monitor customer experience and brand loyalty.
The Chief Executive, Executive Committee and senior leaders regularly review, understand and discuss customer complaints.
Our Customer Fairness Panel, Customer Inclusion Panel, Security Advisory Board and Customer Advisory Board engage directly with customers to help us better understand their experiences.
Openreach makes sure every CP has equal access to our fixed network through a transparent and compliant consultation process.
Highlights this year:
We've continued to raise awareness and make sure customers understand the simple steps needed to switch to Digital Voice. This year, we focused on supporting our most vulnerable customers with targeted outreach, home visits, and extra support for those using telecare services.
We continue to share guidance on children's digital wellbeing, discouraging parents from giving primary school-aged children their own smartphones.
EE became the first UK network to launch under-18 phone plans with restrictions and network content blocking to help keep young people safe online, along with extra tools and support for parents and young people.
EE's 'everyone needs a squad' campaign used our home nations football partnership to promote the importance of group and team interactions in building esteem and positive health, particularly for teenage girls.

Our stakeholders (continued)

‌Colleagues

Our colleagues have once again been at the centre of lots of change this year. As we reshape BT Group for a simpler, more modern digital future, they've stayed resilient and committed to our customers.

Six big priorities enable our people strategy - behaviours, capabilities, talent & inclusion, performance, leadership and future workforce. They help us continue building a BT where people can grow, belong and perform at their best.

This year we've adjusted the size and shape of our workforce, strengthened our leadership practices and introduced

new behaviours. And we've invested in the skills and capabilities needed to support our transformation.

Customer First

We listen deeply, design for what truly matters, and fix the real problem- not just the cracks.

Challenger

Ambitious to win, we think big, stay curious, and move fast to test, learn and innovate.

Committed

We act like owners, taking full accountability, staying with it, and delivering what we say we will.

Clear

We are straight talking and honest, cutting complexity, and facing issues openly so we can fix what matters.

Connected

We win as one team, backing each other, sharing early and involving people so the best ideas thrive.

Our new behaviours

This year we redefined and embedded our new behaviours - the habits and ways of working that will underpin the culture needed for our transformation.

We brought together nearly 27,000 of our colleagues in one of the largest listening exercises in our history, the Big Conversation. They shared what they valued about working here and where we could improve. And these insights shaped which behaviours would best boost performance and deliver our strategy.

Our culture is now centred on new and measurable behaviours: Customer First, Challenger, Committed, Clear & Connected. Working with people managers, senior leaders and frontline teams, we tested and refined the behaviours, then launched them in January. Adopting them will help us make the right decisions, solve problems faster and better deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and

the country.

We've put a three-year transformation plan in place to embed the new behaviours into day-to-day habits and routines.

People capabilities

This year we continued building the technical, digital and customer skills needed for our future. We hired around 13,000 colleagues, including around 9,000 in the UK, 718 apprentices and 77 graduates, strengthening engineering, digital, AI, cyber security and customer operations.

We connected skills to communities through one of the UK's largest apprenticeship programmes, maintaining BT Group's position as a leading apprentice recruiter. Our apprentices

tell us they feel engaged and included, supported by leaders, coaching and our partnership with our provider, Babington.

A highlight includes our award-winning Customer Service Level 2 apprenticeship programme in our contact centres. This year we have onboarded 422 apprentices onto the programme where they gain an accredited qualification alongside a role with us, building the skills and confidence to deliver brilliant service for customers.

Consumer and Business moved digital teams closer to customers to strengthen our end-to-end accountability. And we expanded capability academies to boost learning and on-the-job development.

Talent and inclusion

This year we strengthened our approach to developing our internal talent pipeline and made it more visible and introduced executive talent trading reviews. We also focused more deeply on diversity of representation and on fair progression.

We embedded quarterly people reviews everywhere, giving senior leaders a view of succession, bench strength and career development opportunities. The Executive Committee has increased its focus on critical roles, talent trading and strengthening the leadership bench.

We boosted our senior leadership with external hires in key functional areas, including Commercial, Data & AI, Digital, Product and Culture - while developing internal successors. Greg McCall took over from Howard Watson as Chief Security and Networks Officer and Katie Milligan succeeded Clive Selley as CEO Openreach, showing the strength of our internal succession pipeline.

Our People Networks continued to support inclusion and belonging. In India, flexible work options helped, with female representation rising to 32.3%. Our early careers cohorts are still really diverse, with strong engagement and inclusion scores.

Pay gap reporting Gender

This is the ninth year we've reported our UK gender pay gap. Our median pay gap was 4.8% (the same as last year) and our mean pay gap was 5.3% (+2.7pp). Our gaps are still lower than the UK averages (mean 13.4%, median 12.8%). The increasing mean pay gap can be explained by changes to our organisational structure, as opposed to just our underlying pay structure. During this reporting period, we have seen a higher reduction in female representation amongst our senior roles and higher volumes of women entering frontline roles than men.

Our mean gender bonus gap widened to 12.5% (+0.5pp) and our median gender bonus gap narrowed to 2.8% (-11.5pp).

Ethnicity

We voluntarily report our ethnicity pay gap. In March 2026, 83% of our UK people disclosed their ethnicity. Overall pay gaps for ethnic minority groups have increased in the last year (median 2.5%, mean 5.0%), although it varies by group. The mean gap for the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British group widened to 13.4% in 2026.

This gap can be explained by reduced representation in senior roles for colleagues of black heritage.

Disability

We voluntarily report our disability pay gap. In March 2026, 78% of our UK people disclosed their disability status. At BT Group level, gaps are still low (mean 0.7%, median 0%). The overall mean bonus gap was negative (our disabled people receiving slightly higher bonuses on average). The median bonus gap narrowed and is now in parity between disabled and non-disabled people.

Policies and leave - Highlights

Since 1 October 2024, our UK people with caring responsibilities get up to two weeks' paid leave (previously one week unpaid). This year, 2,537 of our colleagues have taken carer's leave. The Carers UK charity has awarded us with Carers Confident Ambassador status.

From 1 January 2025, all parents with a new child are eligible for 18 weeks at full pay, eight weeks at half pay and 26 weeks statutory pay (regardless of gender or family make-up). This year, 3,123 of our colleagues have taken family leave, of which 2,345 are people who would have been eligible for only two weeks' paternity leave under the previous policy.

Inclusion and wellbeing - Representation

31 Mar 2026 31 Mar 2025 2026 Goals

BT Group (excluding Openreach)

Men 65% 65%

Women 35% 35% 46%

Ethnic minoritya 19% 19% 16%

Disableda 11% 10% 14%

Openreach

Men 90% 90%

Women 10% 10% 12%

Ethnic minoritya 9% 9% 10%

Disableda 6% 6% 6%

BT Group (Total)

Men 73% 73%

Women 27% 27% 32%

Ethnic minoritya 15% 15% 13%

Disableda 9% 8% 10%

Board

Men 64% 58%

Women 36% 42% 40%

Ethnic minority 6 members 4 members 2 members

Disabled 1 member 1 member

Executive Committeeb

Men 67% 67%

Women 33% 33% 33%

Ethnic minoritya 1 member 1 member 2 members

Disableda 1 member 1 member

Senior leadership teamc

Men 69% 62%

Women 31% 38% 41%

Ethnic minoritya 10% 11% 15%

Black/Black heritagea -% 1% 5%

Disableda 14% 18% 10%

Senior management teamd

Men 64% 65%

Women 36% 35% 41%

Ethnic minoritya 11% 10% 15%

Black/Black heritagea 3% 3% 5%

Disableda 13% 14% 10%

UK population only.
The Executive Committee including the Executive Directors and CEO, Openreach.
This comprises the Executive Committee (excluding Executive Directors, but including CEO Openreach), and their direct reports and any other senior leadership roles (excluding administrative roles). However, in line with the definition in the 2024 Corporate Governance Code, senior management (the Executive Committee, excluding Executive Directors, but including the Company Secretary and CEO, Openreach) and their direct reports totals 63 men (66%) and 32 women (34%).
This comprises those employees responsible for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the group, or a strategically significant part of it (members of our senior leadership and senior management teams). However, in line with the Companies Act 2026 definition of senior managers, there are also 71 subsidiary directors (49 men and 22 women) who are not otherwise members of our senior leadership or senior management teams. This totals 479 men (65%) and 261 women (35%).

Our stakeholders (continued)

Performance

This year we continued building a simpler, fairer and more behaviour-led performance focus. We streamlined process with clearer expectations for goal-setting, check-ins and calibration, to make performance conversations better and more consistent.

By integrating our new behaviours into performance we're creating a stronger link between how and what we achieve. Next year we'll deepen the integration and use deep data insights to boost fairness, consistency and manager support.

We've also improved early support for under-performance, with clearer pathways, coaching and escalation where needed.

Leadership

This year we invested in strengthening the consistency and capability of our people leaders.

We launched a suite of leadership products -around coaching, team effectiveness and mentoring - to provide targeted development and support. We also standardised leader assessment for both recruitment and internal progression. This clarifies what great BT leadership looks like and drives fairer and more consistent hiring and promotion decisions.

We upgraded Management Essentials - a core programme for all new people managers. It gives them practical tools for coaching, feedback, performance conversations and inclusive leadership.

Feedback has been excellent. New managers say it's relevant and builds their confidence as leaders.

Future workforce

This year we continued reshaping our workforce to make sure we had the right size, mix and shape for a digital, customer-led organisation. Our hybrid

working approach - 'three together, two wherever' - became policy in January 2025, supporting collaboration, innovation, coaching, development and team belonging. Colleagues who are spending more face-to-face time together tell us they feel more included, more engaged and more confident navigating organisational change.

We know that AI will continue to change how we work and the types of roles we need to deliver for our customers. To help prepare our colleagues, Business launched an AI Mastery Programme in March 2026, available to 14,000 colleagues globally. 4,011 colleagues have already reached their 'white belt' status, deepening their AI knowledge, skills and day-to-day application. We'll continue to focus on this in the coming year.

We supported communities through the EE Live Community Challenge, where our colleagues delivered over 69,000 hours of volunteering focused on digital skills, the environment and social mobility. This was almost double the number of hours we delivered the previous year, further boosting our impact on local communities.

We continued to improve health, safety and wellbeing, following the launch of a 24/7 global wellbeing portal, with occupational health absence remaining stable at 3.23%. We also continued health surveillance for field engineers around noise and hand-arm vibration, showing our continued commitment to our people's health and safety.

Growth, belonging and performing at our best

In a year of huge organisational change, our people continued to support customers, build capability and push us forward. We will keep focused on creating a culture where people can grow, belong and perform - and on building the skills, leadership and workforce we need for

the future.

Country

By keeping the nation connected, we make a significant economic contribution to UK society.

Earning and maintaining trust is essential; without it, we couldn't grow or fulfil our purpose of connecting for good. Different groups expect different things from us, but we all share a common goal - to make a positive and lasting impact on society.

Communities

The communities we serve want us to:

keep them safe and protected with reliable and secure connections
help them understand and navigate a rapidly evolving and increasingly digital world
continue providing direct and indirect employment opportunities
operate ethically, responsibly and sustainably.
Rewiring a national lifeline
Over three million UK households have now moved to Digital Voice, as the country retires its ageing copper landline network, the PSTN. Ahead of the 2027 switchover, BT is supporting homes, businesses, and vulnerable customers with guidance, engineer visits and backup solutions. This once-in-a-generation upgrade will strengthen the UK's digital backbone, providing a more reliable, resilient service that's fit for the future.

Getting the UK AI ready
BT is a founding partner of the UK government's AI Skills Boost programme, which aims to help 10 million workers build AI skills by 2030. Working alongside industry and public sector partners, we're supporting delivery across the programme and chairing the SME Campaign workstream, helping businesses, colleagues, customers, and communities to thrive in an
AI-enabled world.
10m
workers to gain AI skills by 2030

How we engage with communities:
- Community members rely on our products and services to help them work, learn and live.
- We support them through our stores, contact centres, digital channels and home visits for installation and maintenance. We offer support to millions of people in the UK so everyone - regardless of age or background - can benefit from a digital world.
- We use customer surveys and reputation tracking to assess how we're doing and guide future priorities.
- The Responsible Business Committee has overseen our societal programme, tracking and discussing feedback and performance at each meeting.
  Highlights this year:
- Our full fibre network now reaches
  6.3 million homes and businesses in hard-to-reach areas, achieving our ambition to reach 6.2 million by December 2026, and we continue to invest and build in these areas.
- We're expanding 4G coverage in rural areas through the SRN initiative.
- We support around 845,000 low-income and vulnerable customers with social tariffs and discounted products.
- We spend £9.6bn a year with UK suppliers. Our combined activities support 212,000 jobs directly or indirectly. We contribute £1 in every
  £100 of UK gross value added and support 1 in every 100 workers in the UK.
We're one of the UK's biggest private sector apprenticeship employers.
We support communities to develop digital skills. This year, we helped a further 42,000 people, bringing the total to 23.3 million since FY15.
Our colleagues volunteered over 140,000 hours of their time to help our charity partners and communities. That included sharing expertise through mentoring and digital skills help.
Our colleagues donated over £1.1 million to more than 930 charities through payroll contributions. We hold a Payroll Giving Platinum Award quality mark from the Government.
Our colleagues' fundraising and donations raised over £250,000 for our charity partner HomeStart UK, helping families facing social exclusion.
Government
Our relationships with government bodies underpin our three strategic pillars. They also help us contribute to policies and initiatives that promote the best results for stakeholders.
Based on a report published in 2025, we added more than £22.8bn to the UK economy, and provided services to over
1,100 public sector customers in the last 12 months.
Our public policy work with Government covers everything from infrastructure investment to national security, from promoting digital skills and inclusion to wider economic and industrial policy.
Our networks support vital public services such as welfare, tax, health, social care, police and defence - while protecting citizens' personal data.
The Government wants us to:
continue investing in our network infrastructure
provide the fastest, most reliable and secure connection possible, to the widest possible range of communities
invest in the best products and services, at fair prices, with high levels of customer service
promote digital inclusion and adoption, and support vulnerable customers through the process of network upgrades and migrations
contribute to the UK's economic growth, innovation and resilience.
Our stakeholders (continued)
How we engage with the Government -and highlights this year:
- Our policy and public affairs teams manage our relationships with Government and other politicians.
- Under the Communications Act 2003, the Government can ask us (and others) to run or restore services during disasters. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 also says that they can impose obligations on us (and others) in emergencies, or in connection with civil contingency planning.
- We keep an open dialogue with the UK Government and Ministers in the Devolved Administrations through our Chairman, Chief Executive and senior leaders - as well as through consultation responses and cross-industry initiatives.
- Through those conversations we build support for policies that will deliver positive outcomes for the country and for our shareholders.
- The Board gets updates on discussions with Government through the Chairman, Chief Executive and Executive Committee members.
- This year we contributed to government initiatives on topics including industrial strategy, trade strategy, technology development and adoption, mobile coverage, planning reform, business rates, economic security, digital inclusion, consumer protection, late payments, AI skills and fraud prevention.
- Our Chief Executive, Allison Kirkby, is an advisor to the Board of Trade and a member of the Government's Women in Tech Task Force.
We gave evidence to Government to help it formulate its Statement of Strategic Priorities for Ofcom. We also gave input and evidence to MPs on new legislation and in response to Select Committee inquiries.
We're working closely with officials and regulators to agree protocols for moving customers off our legacy networks onto new, more secure and resilient technologies.
Regulators
Regulation protects consumers and promotes fair competition. As a major provider of connectivity services, our primary regulatory relationship is with Ofcom, the regulator of UK communications and TV services. We also work with other bodies like the FCA, CMA, and the ICO.
Our regulators want us to:
invest and innovate in UK digital infrastructure
keep the UK's digital infrastructure and critical services secure and reliable
be fair and transparent with customers
compete fairly in our markets.
How we engage with regulators and highlights this year:
We have open and constructive dialogue with regulators via our Board, Chief Executive, Executive Committee and senior leaders. These discussions focus on how regulation can support investment in top-notch digital
infrastructure while making sure the market works for consumers.
As part of our day-to-day operations, we regularly interact with Ofcom and other regulators through industry consultations and information requests to make sure they understand the impact of proposed changes.
Regulation in our sector is broadly stable. There's a consistent focus on promoting investment, keeping our market competitive, managing orderly migrations and achieving positive outcomes for customers.
This year, Ofcom's market reviews -including the Telecoms Access Review 2026 - set out updated frameworks for pricing regulated wholesale access products. While the frameworks remained largely stable, there were minor changes to reflect growing competition in fixed infrastructure in parts of the UK.
Ofcom also completed its industry-wide investigation on the format and content of information given to consumers at the start of their contracts. After its conclusion and our concurrent proactive reparations to customers, Ofcom issued us a £2.8 million fine. Separately, Ofcom launched a new investigation into a brief voice service outage in July 2025 which is ongoing.
BT engages regularly with Ofcom to help deliver a regulatory landscape that achieves the wider objectives of the regulator and the industry requirements.

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