BT boss Gavin Patterson has hailed a "ground-breaking year" as the telecoms giant posted a better-than-expected annual profits haul of £3.17 billion.

The 12 per cent increase in adjusted pre-tax profits for the year comes after the group recently secured another three years of Premier League football rights and announced the £12.5bn takeover of mobile phone operator EE.

BT's consumer division, which has been buoyed by the offer of top-flight football to broadband customers, grew operating profits by 32 per cent to £614 million for the year to the end of March, with revenues up seven per cent to £4.02bn.

Chief executive Mr Patterson said: "It's been a ground-breaking year for BT, in which we've made some key decisions and announced some major investments to underpin the future growth of the business.

"We have delivered or beaten the outlook we set at the start of the year."

However, the group said that good growth in the consumer division "was offset by declines in our other lines of business", with BT Business hit by lower call and line volumes as customers opted to use internet services instead.

Its wholesale Openreach division saw revenues fall partly due to regulatory price changes while its BT Global Services division was weighed down by a fall in UK public sector revenue.

In the consumer arm, BT said that in the first three months of 2015 it added 121,000 retail broadband customers. It said it had now outpaced rivals Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin for seven quarters in a row on the key industry measure.

The group had its best quarter for superfast fibre broadband growth, with 266,000 net additions of retail customers.

Openreach added 455,000 new fibre customers via all communications providers in the three-month period, up 31% on last year.

Mr Patterson said the network now passes more than three-quarters of the UK. BT said earlier this year that it was also planning to upgrade the superfast network to "ultrafast" speeds six times faster than those currently available.

The chief executive said BT Sport TV channels were now in more than 5.2 million homes "with the customer base growing again in the quarter".

BT will show Champions League football from this autumn after snapping up the rights for £897m. It recently agreed to pay £960m to show 42 Premier League games a season for three years from 2016/17, up from 38 games currently.

Shareholders last week approved the takeover of EE and the deal now awaits approval from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Meanwhile, BT moved back in to the consumer mobile market in March, announcing sim-only deals for existing broadband customers.

Mr Patterson indicated that prices for the Champions League football offering would not be announced until weeks before the start of the season, saying BT had previously "benefited from keeping our powder dry".

There will be a "small subscription charge" for those wanting to access the entire 350-game package that also includes the Europa League, though some games will be free.

Pressed on whether there would be a charge for watching Premier League games - currently available free as part of broadband customer packages - Mr Patterson said: "I can't rule it out forever."

Meanwhile, he said that BT was "in discussions with the CMA" about the EE deal.

Mr Patterson said it was "premature" to assume that the regulator's scrutiny of the takeover would go into a second stage, which would be likely to push completion until the end of next March. Clearance at a preliminary stage could see it finalised in September.

He said the case for the deal was strong even without making any concessions, arguing that it will not give the combined company a market share of more than 40 per cent in either broadband or fixed line services.

BT's results revealed it had signed up more than 50,000 customers to its consumer mobile services in the six weeks since launch.

Mr Patterson said it was a first step "establishing us in the market and building up some momentum". Handsets will be offered later in the year.

Completion of the EE merger "will allow us to offer a whole range of new products and services", he added.

BT also announced a 14 per cent increase in its full-year dividend to 12.4p.

Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers, said: "BT is held in high regard by the market and these results provide a reminder as to why this is the case. In terms of strategy, the jigsaw is slotting into place."

He said the group was set to have market leading positions in three of the four "quad play" offerings of fixed line, mobile, broadband and TV.

"Even the fourth, namely TV, will have exclusive Champions League football in addition to the Premier League rights recently negotiated. As such, the overall quad play bundle will become an increasingly compelling offer for consumers."