Free Mobile added 420,000 new mobile customers in the first three months of 2015, triggering strong growth in its quarterly revenues.
The French mobile operator had 10.53 million customers as of the end of March giving it a market share of above 15%, according to its own estimates.
The firm’s Q1 mobile revenues grew by 18.5% year-on-yea r to €437.9 million.
Free Mobile was the primary growth driver for parent company Iliad in the first quarter, although the firm’s fixed-line business still accounts for well over half of its turnover.
Iliad posted overall revenue growth of 7% to €1.07 billion. The landline business contributed 60% of that, generating revenues of €639.7 million, an increase of 0.3% on the year-ago period.
The operator’s fixed broadband business added 77,000 new customers during the quarter, giving it a base of 5.95 million. It estimates that it took 42% of the market’s net additions during the quarter.
In total the group has 16.47 million customers.
Iliad said it "stepped up its investments in ultrafast broadband" during the quarter, although it did not provide figures.
Customer migration to VDSL2 and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services meant that the company had 700,000 customers receiving broadband speeds of over 30 Mbps by the end of March.
Iliad confirmed that it aims to achieve more than 10% growth in consolidated EBITDA in full-year 2015, but it did not provide EBITDA numbers for the quarter.
