EE reports flat Q3 sales, keeps mum on Power Bar recall debacle

But it's OK, penalised operator to focus on 'customer service'

EE reported flat third-quarter revenues to the City this morning and tried to ease investors by promising – once again – that it would do a better job on customer service.

During the three-month period ended 30 September, the mobile carrier was battling a major product recall. But it made no mention of the Power Bar blunder today.

EE said that its operating revenue – which combines sales from mobile service, fixed and wholesale biz areas – for Q3 stood at £1.5bn, down 0.6 per cent year-on-year.

Turnover was down 0.3 per cent from £1.59bn during 2014's third quarter to £1.58bn at the end of September this year.

The operator's mobile ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) metric remained unchanged from last year's figure of £19.10.

Prepaid mobile sales fell 7.5 per cent during the quarter to 9 million, while growth in fixed broadband connections slowed sharply to 927,000 – adding just 8,000 new subscribers since EE's second quarter results.

While BT's proposed £12.5bn takeover of EE looms large, the carrier has had a difficult quarter.

Back in June it was making a big deal about its Power Bar charger, by crowing that more than 1 million customers were using the device.

By August, that big marketing push turned into an embarrassing climbdown when EE was forced to recall some of the chargers after a Power Bar exploded causing serious injury to a customer.

The Register understands that EE's Power Bar marketing blitz had been one of its strategic financial growth initiatives.

EE also has a long way to go to achieve its "ambition to be number one for service" as it stated on Wednesday morning.

The company was slapped with a £1m fine in July for failing to comply with Ofcom's rules on handling customer complaints. ®