Bouygues Telecom expects the growing demand for fixed and mobile broadband to have an impact on its business in the coming years.
On Tuesday the French telco revealed that it expects to post 10% growth in sales from network services in 2017, compared with 2014, by which time it will have signed up an additional 1 million mobile customers and 1 million fixed broadband customers.
It also set an EBITDA margin target of 25% for 2017 and 35% in the longer term, and said annual capex will come in at around €750 million for the coming years. Its EBITDA margin in the first half of this year sto od at 17.1%.
The operator shared its latest targets as part of a capital markets day at which it also addressed the state of the telecoms sector.
It highlighted the "unprecedented acceleration in mobile data consumption" in France, driven by fast 4G adoption and the growing capabilities of smartphones.
The telco aims to extend its 4G network to 99% of the population by 2018, from 72% at present, thanks to the addition of 5,000 base stations, taking the total to 20,000. It also plans to aggregate 800-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2.6-GHz spectrum to drive higher mobile broadband speeds, potentially reaching 300 Mbps.
"The mobile base station sharing agreement with Numericable-SFR in non-dense areas will significantly enhance network quality while generating savings of around €100 million per year on operating costs and capital expenditure from 2018," the company said.
As a result of its network assets, the operator believes it can target high-value mobile customers. 42% of its customers were 4G users at the end of June, consuming an average of 2.4 GB of data per month, significantly above the 610 MB market average.
On the fixed-line side, Bouygues Telecom said it is stepping up the rollout of its network and aims to cover 16 million households with its own infrastructure by the end of this year, up from 12.3 million at end-2014.
"An expanding customer base will generate economies of scale, while the rollout of the directly-owned DSL network combined with rationalisation of partnerships will benefit service quality and hence customer loyalty," the telco said.
"The regulatory framework also enables Bouygues Telecom to invest gradually and flexibly in its FTTH fibre network in line with its ambitions for growing its customer base," it added.
The company has kept an eye on costs in recent years, against the backdrop of an intensely competitive French marketplace.
Overall, it expects to record cost savings of €800 million across all its businesses between 2011 and 2016-17. Those savings translate to a reduction in operating costs per customer of more than 40%.
To achieve those numbers, Bouygues Telecom has simplified its service offerings, distribution networks and support functions. It has shed 2,000 staff as a result.
