If Bt has bought back 2million 5 thousand shares to day. How come it shows on trades as a sell?

Thanks Dil :-)

Just enjoying the ride and happy to hold. I still feel that this has long legs.

BT Group in Talks to Buy ESPN Football Rights - FT

U.K. telecommunications operator BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) is in talks to buy over sports broadcaster ESPN's football rights, which cover certain matches from the German Bundesliga, the Europa League and the English FA Cup, the Financial Times reported Sunday on its website, without elaborating on its sources.

Ofcom announces winners of the 4G mobile auction

· Five winning bidders to deliver future mobile competition in the UK
· 4G services from a range of operators expected within six months
· Research measuring 4G speeds to be conducted at the end of 2013

Ofcom has today announced the winners of the 4G mobile spectrum auction.

After more than 50 rounds of bidding, Everything Everywhere Ltd, Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd (a subsidiary of BT Group plc), Telefónica UK Ltd and Vodafone Ltd have all won spectrum. This is suitable for rolling out new superfast mobile broadband services to consumers and to small and large businesses across the UK1.

The auction has achieved Ofcom's purpose of promoting strong competition in the 4G mobile market. This is expected to lead to faster mobile broadband speeds, lower prices, greater innovation, new investment and better coverage. Almost the whole UK population will be able to receive 4G mobile services by the end of 2017 at the latest.

A total of 250 MHz of spectrum was auctioned in two separate bands - 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. This is equivalent to two-thirds of the radio frequencies currently used by wireless devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops.

The lower-frequency 800 MHz band is part of the 'digital dividend' freed up when analogue terrestrial TV was switched off, and is ideal for widespread mobile coverage. The higher-frequency 2.6 GHz band is ideal for delivering the capacity needed for faster speeds. The availability of the two will allow 4G networks to achieve widespread coverage as well as offering capacity to cope with significant demand in urban centres.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: "This is a positive outcome for competition in the UK, which will lead to faster and more widespread mobile broadband, and substantial benefits for consumers and businesses across the country. We are confident that the UK will be among the most competitive markets in the world for 4G services.

"4G coverage will extend far beyond that of existing 3G services, covering 98% of the UK population indoors - and even more when outdoors - which is good news for parts of the country currently underserved by mobile broadband.

"We also want consumers to be well informed about 4G, so we will be conducting research at the end of this year to show who is deploying services, in which areas and at what speeds. This will help consumers and businesses to choose their most suitable provider."


Widespread 4G coverage
Ofcom has attached a coverage obligation to one of the 800 MHz lots of spectrum. The winner of this lot is Telefónica UK Ltd. This operator is obliged to provide a mobile broadband service for indoor reception to at least 98% of the UK population (expected to cover at least 99% when outdoors) and at least 95% of the population of each of the UK nations - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - by the end of 2017 at the latest.

BT SECURES 2.6GHz SPECTRUM LICENCE

BT has secured a licence for 2x15MHz of FDD and 20MHz of TDD 2.6GHz spectrum, the company confirmed today. This spectrum, which can be used to provide fast 4G connectivity, will enable BT to provide its business and consumer customers with an enhanced range of mobile broadband services, building on its existing strength in wi-fi.

The licence was won via the recent 4G auction process conducted by Ofcom.

The licence, which is indefinite in length, was won at a price of £186 million1. There are no further licence fees for at least twenty years.

Ian Livingston, BT chief executive, said: "We are pleased to have secured this spectrum. We have said that we do not intend to build a national mobile network. Instead, this spectrum will complement our existing strategy of delivering a range of services using fixed and wireless broadband. We want our customers to enjoy the best possible connections wherever they are and this spectrum, together with our investment in fibre broadband, will help us achieve that."

Morgan Stanley Overweight 280.30 276.90 290.00 290.00 Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 280.30 276.90 300.00 - Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Neutral 280.30 276.90 250.00 250.00 Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 270.80 270.80 280.00 280.00 Retains

Nomura Buy 270.85 266.30 290.00 360.00 Reiterates

6 year high today @283.20p

New high today @284.50p

Multi year high @290.70 just touched.

Deutsche Bank Hold 286.45 277.00 277.00 Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 286.45 300.00 315.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Equal weight 286.45 300.00 300.00 Reiterates

Citigroup Neutral 276.50 275.00 250.00 300.00 Reiterates

BT SPORT FREE FOR MILLIONS OF HOMES

BT SPORT FREE FOR MILLIONS OF HOMES

Free with BT broadband

Non-BT broadband customers offered a quick and easy switching process

Available in HD for £15 per month to non-BT broadband customers

BT today promised to return sport to grassroots fans as it revealed BT Sport will be free to any consumer BT broadband customer. This is the first time in more than 20 years that weekly live matches from the Barclays Premier League will be free to watch.

The three channels - BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN - will be packed with world class sport. There will be 38 live and exclusive football matches from the Barclays Premier League - including 18 'first pick' matches - and up to 69 live rugby matches from the Aviva Premiership where BT will be the sole and exclusive broadcaster. There will be live football from several other top leagues around the world including Germany, France, Italy and Brazil. There will also be FA Cup ties, the UEFA Europa League, Scottish Premier League plus WTA women's tennis and action from the UFC.

BT today revealed it has added Moto GP, Women's Super League football, Australian 'A' league soccer and action sport and lifestyle programming from Red Bull Media House. Further commentators and pundits were also announced to boost those already in place (see accompanying release).

BT's aim is to increase the number of customers enjoying high quality sports on TV. Only one in five UK homes currently take a sports channel, possibly due to the high prices that have resulted from there being little real competition.

By offering BT Sport for free with BT broadband, BT hopes to appeal to the vast majority of UK homes - more than 20 million - who already have broadband as well as those who haven't taken it to date. More than five million homes already take their broadband from BT and whilst the company will be rewarding those loyal customers with this great free service, it will also be encouraging customers of other ISPs to switch supplier.

To encourage people to switch, BT is offering new customers BT Infinity, its flagship superfast fibre product, from just £15 per month or copper broadband from just £101.

BT Group plc Final Results


Key points for the fourth quarter:

· Our key revenue measure3 was flat - a significantly improved performance
· Underlying operating costs4 excluding transit down 2%, despite our investments
· EBITDA1 up 4% and earnings per share1 up 22%
· Fibre available to more than half of UK homes and businesses and roll out accelerating in rural areas
· Fibre customer base more than doubled, now at more than 1.5m
· BT Global Services order intake of £2.0bn

Key points for the year:

· Results in line with or better than expectations
· Underlying operating costs1 excluding transit down 6%
· EBITDA2 up 2%
· Normalised free cash flow3 of £2.3bn
· Net debt reduced by £1,285m
· Proposed final dividend of 6.5p, up 14%, giving a full year dividend of 9.5p, also up 14%

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Buy 275.65 275.70 275.00 325.00 Upgrades

Morgan Stanley Equal weight 0.00 285.00 285.00 Reiterates

Exane BNP Paribas Neutral 299.45 250.00 250.00 Reiterates

£3 touched.

Great results.

Wey hey I love these b*ggers :-)