TELECOMS PROVIDER BT surprised the market with strong results in its enterprise services and consumer broadband units, lifting its shares more than 3 per cent.

Britain’s biggest fixed-line services supplier said its problematic Global Services unit would turn cash-flow positive this fiscal year, earlier than expected, as continuing cost cuts boosted the unit’s core profit margin.

BT also said it gained market share in retail broadband in the quarter to end-December, adding 188,000 customers, partly due to strong take-up of its BT Vision Internet TV service.

“If you want cheap and cheerful, we’ve got it; if you want the best, we’ve got it,” chief executive Ian Livingston told journalists on a conference call.

BT has started to build a high-speed fibre network in the UK, and increased capital expenditure by 28 per cent in the quarter.