BT is looking for one million internet phone customers within a year, as part of an aggressive push into the broadband calls market after a sharp drop in new high-speed internet customers.

The former monopoly, which had initially been reluctant to promote internet calls for fear of cannibalising its traditional fixed-line revenues, predicted that internet calls would constitute 10 per cent of its total calls in two years.

The announcement came as it unveiled results for the first quarter to June 30, which, while in line with expectations, showed a sharp drop in its retail division’s share of new broadband customers.

Net new broadband customers in its retail division totalled 158,000 in the quarter, compared with about 250,000 in previous quarters.

Analysts described BT’s results as “solid”, but said that the broadband additions number was disappointing. They suggested that the figure was the first sign of the impact of aggressive new competitors such as Carphone Warehouse, which offers “free” broadband.

BT’s push into voice-overinternet-protocol (VoIP) technology, which allows users to make cheap or even free calls across the world, follows the entry into the UK market of new players, including household names such as Tesco, the supermarket giant.

It also follows the struggles of France Télécom, whose figures have been hit hard by cheap internet voice calls from challengers such as Iliad and Neuf Cegetel. The French group’s shares have lost more than 30 per cent over the past year.

BT, which has offered VoIP for several years, currently has about 135,000 active customers on the service. It will seek to boost that number to one million by heavy advertising.

Hannes Wittig, telecoms analyst at JPMorgan, said that providing an internet calls service as part of a broadband product could help BT to keep hold of its broadband customers.

Throwing in VoIP calls as part of a broadband package could also enable the group to maintain its premium pricing position by “enriching the broadband offering”, he said.

Because the price of traditional calls had fallen, he said, the revenue sacrifice for BT of customers making calls over the internet was not great.

Instead of seeking to offer rock-bottom pricing like its rivals, BT is offering a more expensive product centred on “extras”, which it says make it better value for money.

Customers do not need a BT broadband connection specifically to use its VoIP service — they can just download the necessary software and run it over a broadband connection with another provider — but calls are cheaper for customers using a BT connection.

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