Telecom operator Orange said its revenue rose 1.2 percent to €40.26 billion in 2024 thanks to demand for mobile data.
Orange’s mobile services had 253 million users worldwide (+7.1 percent) including 94.6 million contracts (+7.8 percent). Orange’s fixed services had 38.3 million users worldwide (down 3.2 percent) of which 14.6 million (+13.5 percent) were very high-speed broadband users at the end of 2024.
Orange had 60.1 million households connectable to FTTH worldwide (up 9.3 percent) and the FTTH customer base was 13.5 million (up +14.3 percent) at the end of December 2024.
Capex, which was in line with the Group’s target of around 15 percent in 2024, was €6.259 billion (up 2.9 percent), representing 15.5 percent of revenue. The main contributor to the marginal increase in Capex was Africa & Middle East (+9.9 percent).
“These results demonstrate the execution of our Lead the Future strategic plan. Group revenue and EBITDAaL growth, in line with objectives, was rooted in outstanding operational achievements, strong commercial momentum across all geographies and continued discipline on cost control,” Orange group CEO Christel Heydemann said in the company’s earnings report.
Orange’s revenue in Africa & Middle East region rose 11.1 percent to €7.683 billion, driven by mobile data (+18.4 percent), fixed broadband (+19.5 percent), Orange Money (+20.4 percent) and in B2B (+12.5 percent) across all activities.
Orange has over 160 million (+7.9 percent) mobile customers and 40 million (+16.6 percent) Orange Money customers in the Africa & Middle East region. Orange’s 4G customer base grew 25.3 percent. Fixed broadband customer base rose 18.7 percent to 4 million.
Orange’s Capex was in Africa & Middle East region was €1.324 billion, representing 17.2 percent of revenue.
Orange’s revenues in France increased 0.4 percent to €17.798 billion thanks to growth in retail services. Capex in France was €3.101 billion, representing 17.4 percent of its revenue.
France Orange achieved convergent ARPO of 78 euros (+4 percent), generating growth of 3.3 percent in convergent services. France Orange added 118,000 mobile, with a churn rate of 14.4 percent. France Orange has added 10,000 fixed broadband users. At 31 December 2024, 40.3 million households were connectable to Orange fiber, representing more than 90 percent of French households.
Orange’s revenues in Europe fell 2.1 percent to €7,101 billion, despite by performance of Convergence (+7.2 percent). The number of high-speed fixed broadband customers amounted to 3.7 million FTTH and cable customers in Europe.
The increase in Orange’s Capex in Europe of 1.5 percent (+17 million euros) achieved by Poland (+17.1 percent) and Belgium & Luxembourg (+1.4 percent) was partially offset by Central Europe (-11.6 percent).
Orange Business revenues fell 2.1 percent to €7.777 billion due to 8.1 percent decline in fixed-only revenues. Revenue growth for Orange Cyberdefense was 11.2 percent, while IT and integration services were up +2.7 percent.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
