November 13, 2008 - UK telco BT has revealed that it reached 340,000 subscribers for its 'BT Vision' IPTV service in the third quarter of this year, up from 282,000 at the end of the second quarter of this year, and reports that of the new customers added in the quarter, an average of 83% chose to take a subscription pack, nearly three times as many as last year.

Last September also saw the launch of a new high-definition movie service including blockbusters from NBC Universal, costing from GB£ 2.95 (US$ 4.40) and available to all BT Vision customers without the need for additional monthly subscriptions or new hardware. BT also renewed its contract with Comtrend in the third quarter of this year in order to continue using the latter's Power Line Communications (PLC) technology for the delivery of BT Vision around subscriber homes.

The telco also reports that it remained the largest retail broadband provider in the UK with a customer base of 4.6mn at the end of last September, while its retail market share of the DSL and LLU installed base was 34% at the end of the period.

Overall revenue across the group for the third quarter of this year grew 4% year-on-year to reach GB£ 5.303bn, while profit before taxation, specific items and leaver costs fell 11% by the same comparison to reach GB£ 590mn.