News
Sales at French incumbent’s domestic operation dip slightly due to lower roaming rates, SIM-only take-up.
Orange on Tuesday reported a modest increase in third quarter revenue and earnings, led by strong performances in Spain and Africa.
Group revenue for the three months to 30 September came in at €10.32 billion, up 0.8% on the same quarter of 2015. Restated EBITDA grew 1.6% to €3.60 billion.
"The third quarter was again marked by a strong commercial performance, reflecting the success of Essentials 2020 – our strategy of differentiation through investment in high-speed broadband networks and the reinvention of our customer relationships. This performance can be seen in the accelerated growth of our revenues and restated EBITDA and enables us to confirm all of our objectives for 2016," said Orange CEO Stephane Richard, in a statement.
The telco’s Spanish unit was the star performer in Europe, growing revenue by 7.8% to €1.29 billion. Mobile service revenue surged 9.8% thanks to strong 4G demand and a 5.4% increase in contract customers.
Orange’s Africa and Middle East division turned in another solid quarter, growing third quarter revenue by 2.5% year-on-year to €1.37 billion, as 34% growth in mobile data revenues helped to offset the negative impact caused by customer registration requirements rolled out in several countries across the region.
"The increasing take-up of smartphones and our commercial strategy has translated into strong growth in mobile data revenues [in Africa and the Middle East]. The integration of the recently acquired operations in Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is on track, with the latter two operations now consolidated," Richard said.
Meanwhile, Orange’s French operation was hampered by lower national and international roaming rates, and the strong take-up of SIM-only mobile deals. Revenue in France edged down 0.6% year-on-year to €4.77 billion, led by a 3.8% fall in mobile service revenue. This was offset slightly by a 0.7% increase in fixed service revenue, thanks to a 4.2% increase in broadband customers.
At the end of September, Orange’s domestic business had 29.51 million mobile customers, compared to 28.23 million a year earlier. Its fixed broadband base stood at 11.06 million, up from 10.61 million.
"In France, due to a strong commercial dynamic, we reached the end of September with more than 10 million 4G customers, 1.3 million fibre customers and more than half of our broadband customer base using converged services. These developments have led to further improvement in both the satisfaction and loyalty of our mobile and fixed customers," Richard said.
Orange reiterated its full-year guidance of restated EBITDA growth compared to 2015, and said it remains open to "selective, value-creating acquisitions concentrating on markets in which it is already present."
