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Orange now has 20 million 4G subscribers in Africa and The Middle East
Orange Group has seen its revenues for the second quarter of 2019 grow by 0.5 per cent, which was driven by a strong performance in the Middle East and Africa business unit.
Group revenues stood at €10.338 billion, with revenues in the Middle East and Asia unit increasing by 5.8 per cent, while growth in Europe remained more modest. Revenues in Orange’s home market of France grew by 0.4 per cent.
Orange has acquired nearly 20 million mobile customers in the Middle East and Africa region, as it continues to rollout 4G services in the area. This represented a 54.4 per cent increase, year on year.
"Although there continues to be strong competition in our key markets, the second-quarter results meant the Group delivered a good performance for the first half with revenues increasing 0.2% [H1 2019] and growth in EBITDAaL sustained at 0.8%," said Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of Orange Group.
On the fixed line side of the business, Orange group added 160,000 new fibre broadband customers in France in Q2 2019.
"It is clear that our strategy in very high-speed broadband remains effective. On fixed services, the acceleration of our fibre deployments in Europe was accompanied by a continually strong commercial performance, which enabled us to attain the level of nearly 7 million fibre customers," Richard added.
On the mobile side of the business, Orange grew its total number of subscribers to 62 million 4G customers. The Group is in the process of readying itself for a slue of 5G launches in Europe and The Middle East in the coming 12-18 months.
"We are getting ready for the arrival of 5G with numerous tests being carried out with the initial mobile devices, in preparation for commercial launches next year. In addition, the RAN-sharing agreements in Spain and Belgium formalised in recent months show we are committed to the long-term optimisation of our networks,2 he added.
Orange has made a significant investment in its cyber security business, as part of its Orange Business Services portfolio, and this focus looks set to continue over the mid to long-term.
"This first half also marked a new milestone in our multi-service operator strategy with the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink in the cyberdefence market, where we have the ambition to become the leader in Europe. Our cyberdefence offer is now available in 12 countries, and already has 3,700 customers and full-year revenues of €600 million," Richard said.
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