Mobile merger sees first signs of growth

Everything Everywhere, the UK joint venture involving the mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile, returned to growth in the third quarter thanks to rising smartphone sales and additional contract customers, it said yesterday.

Revenue remained broadly flat at £1.8bn over the three months, following a 4.8 per cent slump in sales in the previous quarter. The number of contract customers rose by 185,000, and the proportion of contract sales for smartphones rose from 38 per cent to 75 per cent.

Tom Alexander, the chief executive of Everything Everywhere, said: "The UK market remains highly competitive but, once we get through our period of transition and we are able to leverage both our scale and joint networks as well as realise the proposed synergies, we expect to see further progress on improving our financial position."

Last month, Everything Everywhere slashed its 16,000-strong workforce by 7.5 per cent following the merger.