French telco Iliad on Thursday set a long-term target of growing its mobile market share to 25% after putting in an impressive performance in 2014.
Its Free Mobile business ended last year with more than 10 million subscribers, up by more than 2 million on 2013. This meant Iliad achieved its initial long-term aim of capturing a 15% share of the market just three years after launch. The strong customer growth fuelled a 28% surge in full-year mobile revenue, which came in at €1.6 billion.
The pace at which Free Mobile has grown over the last 12 months will heap extra pressure on Bouygues Telecom, which ended 2014 with 11.2 million mobile customers, down 22,000 on 2013. Incumbent and market leader Orange had 27.1 million mobile customers in its home market at the end of last year, while second-placed SFR had 16.2 million.
Meanwhile, Iliad’s fixed broadband business recorded net additions of 228,000 in 2014, leaving it with 5.9 million overall. Full-year revenue increased 2.7% to €2.6 billion. The strong growth, particularly by its mobile business, resulted in Iliad’s 2014 revenue growing 11.2% to €4.2 billion, the first time in company history that it has exceeded €4 billion.
Fuelle d by the success of its low-cost broadband and mobile packages, Iliad "has positioned itself as a major player" in the French telco market, the company said in a statement.
EBITDA grew to €1.3 billion in 2014 from €1.2 billion a year ago, while operating profit increased to €565.9 million from €537 million. This drove net profit to €278.4 million from €265.4 million.
For 2015, Iliad has targeted EBITDA growth of more than 10%, and a 40% EBITDA margin by the end of the decade. In 2014, its EBITDA margin was 30.8%, down from 32.1% in 2013.
