Eurobites: BT Shrugs Off Troubles in Q1

Underlying second-quarter revenues at Telefónica remained flat year-on-year at €12.72 billion ($14.09 billion), while operating income actually fell 1.5% to €1.56 billion ($1.72 billion). The operator raised its investment levels during the quarter, up 2.9% in organic terms to €3.65 billion ($4.04 billion) as it sought to accelerate the rollout of high-speed broadband. After the collapse of the proposed merger between Telefónica UK Ltd. (O2) and Three UK , the UK subsidiary is now back on the balance sheet. (See Eurobites: EU vetoes O2/3 combo.)

SFR , the French mobile operator owned by acquisition-hungry billionaire Patrick Drahi, plans to shed around a third of its workforce, according to a Reuters report. Two union representatives told Reuters that 5,000 staff could be let go between 2017 and 2019. Altice bought SFR from Vivendi in 2014. (See Eurobites: Numericable Wins SFR M&A Tussle and What's It All About, Altice?)

Sky , the UK-based pay-TV behemoth, continues to look strong, reporting full-year revenues up 7% to £11.96 billion ($15.73 billion) and operating profit up 12% to £1.55 billion ($2.04 billion). One of the few dark clouds, however, was an increase in the rate of customer "churn," up to 11.2% from 9.8% in 2015 in the UK and Ireland, as Business Insider reports.

Dutch incumbent KPN Telecom NV (NYSE: KPN) managed a 1.3% year-on-year rise in net profit in the second quarter to €205 million ($227 million), despite revenues being down by 4.3% to €1.67 billion ($1.85 billion). The operator is having some success in the take-up of fixed-mobile bundles -- 38% of its postpaid base and 33% of its broadband base have now opted to go down the bundle route.

Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) has introduced voice-recognition software on its customer hotline for added security. Voiceprint measures different voice characteristics such as frequency, speed, pronunciation and accent.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading