Income slips at Orange and T-Mobile

The mobile phone giant EverythingEverywhere, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, has reported a jump in the number of more profitable contract customers by 151,000 in the first three months of the year.

But revenues slipped 2.5 per cent to £1.5bn as regulators pushed down the cost of calls.

Olaf Swantee, the chief executive, is keen to launch a next-generation 4G service early, but denied he wants Ofcom to let him have a "head start" on rivals.