News
French operator reports growth in fixed, mobile customers following failed Orange negotiations.
Bouygues Telecom on Friday showed that its fruitless merger talks with Orange did not detract from its turnaround efforts during the first quarter, as revenue rose, net loss narrowed, and its subscriber base grew.
The French operator generated sales of €1.13 billion in the three months to 31 March, up from €1.06 billion in the same period a year ago. EBITDA jumped 12.7% year-on-year to €146 million, while operating loss narrowed to €33 million from €62 million. Net loss came in at €40 million, compared to €49 million in Q1 2015.
"The first quarter of 2016 saw a good commercial performance at Bouygues Telecom and a sharp improvement in its results, confirming the turnaround started in 2015," said Bouygues Telecom parent Bouygues Group, in a statement.
Bouygues Telecom ended March with 12.13 million mobile customers, up from 11.89 million in the previous quarter. The growth was driven by contract subscribers, which increased by 231,000 over the past 3 months, reaching 11.17 million.
Its 4G user base reached 5.6 million – 55% of its total mobile customer base – at the end of March, Bouygues said, up from 36% in the corresponding quarter of 2015. Average 4G data consumption jumped to 2.7 GB from 2.2 GB.
On the fixed side, Bouygues Telecom added 71,000 customers in the quarter, giving it 2.86 million in total.
"These results validate the strategic choices made by Bouygues Telecom, which has the strengths necessary to achieve its objectives in a market with four operators," Bouygues said.
Indeed, it was a reassuring performance in light of Bouygues’ unsuccessful attempt to merge its telecoms business with incumbent Orange.
The two companies were unable to negotiate a deal that would have reduced the number of mobile operators in France to three from four, easing the competitive pressure wrought by challenger operator Free, and creating by far the country’s biggest integrated services provider in terms of customers.
