Telecom operator Orange today revealed its Capex and revenue guidance for 2021 indicating that it will continue to focus on 4G network, 5G business and fiber.
Orange is planning Capex of €7.6 billion – €7.7 billion in 2021.
Orange Group Capex declined by 1.7 percent in 2020, largely as a result of co-financings received and despite the accelerated rollout of the fixed and mobile broadband networks.
Despite the health crisis, Orange succeeded in rolling out more fiber optic connections in 2020 than in 2019, providing an additional 9.0 million households with FTTH connectivity compared to 7.2 million in the previous year.
Orange had 47.2 million households with FTTH connectivity worldwide at December 31, 2020, up 23.4 percent year-on-year. At 2020 year-end, nearly 100 percent of Orange mobile sites in France offered 4G coverage.
Stephane Richard, chairman and CEO of Orange group, said: “We launched 5G in five countries and will continue the deployment of this disruptive technology in 2021.”
Orange succeeded in stabilizing its revenues for the year thanks to the quality of its networks. In Africa & Middle East, growth was very strong at more than 5 percent, still driven mainly by 4G and Orange money.
Orange group posted 2020 revenues of €42.3 billion, up 0.3 percent year-on-year on a comparable basis. This growth was driven by the strong trend in wholesale services thanks to the co-financing of the fiber network in France and to convergent services, which posted respective growth rates of 4.4 percent and 2.1 percent.
Roaming (customers and visitors) was hit by travel restrictions, while equipment sales fell 9.5 percent due to store closures.
France and Africa & Middle-East made a positive contribution, posting respective growth rates of 1.6 percent and 5.2 percent in 2020. Europe (including Spain) remained under pressure, as did Enterprise, although the latter showed some improvement in the fourth quarter.
There were 11.06 million convergent customers Group-wide at December 31, 2020, up 2.7 percent year-on-year driven by continuing strong growth in Europe.
Mobile services numbered 214.1 million access lines at December 31, 2020, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, including 77.4 million contracts, up 4.3 percent.
Fixed services numbered a total of 45.1 million access lines at December 31, 2020, down 0.7 percent year-on-year. This was primarily due to the sharp 12.4 percent fall in fixed narrowband access lines, despite continuing strong growth (23.7 percent) in very high-speed fixed broadband access lines.
