Telecom Lead Europe: The Orange Group posted consolidated
revenues of 10.922 billion euros in the first quarter of 2012, down 1.8
percent.
Orange reported 6.8 percent increase in Africa and the
Middle East.
It recorded 4.5 percent growth in Spain, led by mobile
and fixed broadband services.
In France, revenue declined 1.7 percent. Orange’s share
of the mobile market declined 1.5 percentage points in the first quarter.
Telecom Capex rose 2.2 percent to 1.097 billion euros
compared to the first quarter of 2011.
In France, Orange tripled the speed of its 3G+ networks
with the migration to the HSPA+ standard (42 Mbit/sec.)
In French market due to the arrival of the fourth mobile
operator, the response from Orange was rapid, pragmatic and effective. Our new
web-only brand, Sosh, which has attracted over 200,000 customers, and the
Orange Open quadruple play offer, which now has a total of 1.7 million
customers, demonstrated their relevance both in terms of customer acquisition
and retention. The roaming agreement signed with the new operator helped offset
the decline in consumer revenues for the quarter,” said France Telecom-Orange
Chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard.
I would like to highlight the good performance of our international
activities, particularly in Spain, which grew 4.5 percent, and in emerging
markets, which posted 6.8 percent growth helped by the recovery in Egypt and
Cote d’Ivoire,” Richard added.
Orange is pursuing its strategy of differentiating itself
through the quality of its network by accelerating the deployment of 4G, which
will be launched in Marseille in June 2012, as well as fiber.
In France, mobile revenues were up 3.8 percent, led by
the success of segmented offers and the distribution of smartphones. At the
same time, fixed broadband services rose 5.6 percent with the customer base up
3.9 percent year on year at 31 March 2012, and with an ADSL market share
estimated at 19 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
In Spain, mobile revenues rose 3.5 percent. Fixed
services gained 8.6 percent on ADSL growth (customer base and ARPU).
In Poland, mobile revenues rose 2.6 percent, led by
growth in the customer base, while fixed services declined 5.3 percent.
In the Rest of World segment, revenues climbed 6.8
percent in Africa and the Middle East due to the recovery in Cote d’Ivoire and
Egypt, after remaining stable in the second half of 2011.
In Europe Belgium rose 2.3 percent while the Romanian
operations improved.
The Enterprise business segment declined 3.1 percent in
the first quarter of 2012. The drop in legacy business networks was partially
offset by the growth of international operations and gains in service
operations.
The Group had 225.0 million customers at 31 March 2012
(excluding MVNOs), a 5.0 percent increase year on year with 10.7 million net
additions over twelve months, primarily related to the growth of mobile
services in Africa and the Middle East.
REGION-WISE SUBSCRIBERS
The Group had a total of 166.2 million mobile services
customers at 31 March 2012 (excluding MVNOs), a y-o-y increase of 7.1 percent
with 11.0 million net additions.
Africa and the Middle East had a total of 76.0 million
customers at 31 March 2012, a 16.0 percent increase with 10.5 million net additions.
In Europe, the number of contract customers was up 6.8
percent, led by the success of smartphones, and represents 50.1 percent of the
mobile customer base compared with 47.3 percent a year ago.
In France, the mobile customer base declined 0.7 percent
year on year overall, reflecting the arrival of the fourth operator. Contract
customer numbers continued their upward trend, rising 0.9 percent year on year
despite a loss.
The Group had a total of 14.6 million fixed broadband
services customers at 31 March 2012, a year-on-year increase of 4.8 percent and
662,000 net additions, including 364,000 in France, 217,000 in the other
European countries (including Spain, Poland and Belgium), and 80,000 in Africa
and the Middle East (including Egypt, Jordan, Senegal and Tunisia).
Digital TV (IPTV and satellite) was up 22.8 percent in
Europe with 5.349 million subscribers at 31 March 2012 (992,000 net additions),
principally in France and Poland.
TOTAL CAPEX
Telecom Capex was 1.097 billion euros in the first
quarter of 2012, an increase of 2.2 percent on a comparable basis.
Investment in networks, which represented 53 percent of
the Group’s CAPEX in the first quarter of 2012, rose 4.6 percent.
REGION-WISE REVENUE
Revenues in France were 5.401 billion euros in the first
quarter of 2012, a 4.2 percent decline on a comparable basis.
Revenues from mobile services showed a 0.5 percent
increase, excluding the impact of regulatory measures. The growth in data
services, linked to SMS revenues and to Internet browsing as well as the rapid
development of national roaming in the first quarter of 2012 with the arrival
of the fourth mobile operator, offset the decline in mobile voice revenues,
which became more pronounced in the first quarter of 2012.
Home revenues fell 4.2 percent on a comparable basis to
3.112 billion euros.
Revenues from fixed broadband services showed growth of
5.6 percent.
The total fixed broadband customer base rose 3.9 percent
year on year to 9.671 million subscribers at 31 March 2012.
SPAIN
Revenues in Spain rose 2.3 percent on a comparable basis
to 981 million euros.
Personal revenues grew 3.5 percent to 797 million euros,
excluding the impact of regulatory measures.
The mobile customer base comprised 12,465 million
customers at 31 March 2012 (excluding MVNOs), a 3.4 percent increase year on
year; the number of contracts (7.745 million customers at 31 March 2012)
continued to climb steadily (+6.8 percent year on year), led by the growth in
the number of smartphones.
Revenues from data services rose 20.7 percent in the
first quarter of 2012 with the rapid growth of Internet browsing. The number of
data services users (smartphones and 3G modem sticks) more than doubled.
Home revenues rose 8.6 percent on a comparable basis to
184 million euros, led by the growth in broadband services, where revenues rose
17 percent in the first quarter of 2012. The number of ADSL subscribers (1.293
million customers at 31 March 2012) increased 12.4 percent year on year; ARPU9
rose 2.4 percent, with fully unbundled ADSL subscribers representing a growing
share (63 percent at 31 March 2012) and with growth in voice over IP.
POLAND
First quarter 2012 revenues in Poland fell 3.4 percent on
a comparable basis to 832 million euros.
Personal revenues rose 2.6 percent to 440 million euros.
Data services also rose with 31 percent growth in the
number of smartphones in one year. Orange Poland maintained its leadership with
an estimated market share of 30 percent.
Home revenues declined 5.4 percent on a comparable basis
to 455 million euros, mainly due to the decrease in the number of traditional
telephone lines. The number of broadband services customers rose 2.2 percent
year on year (2.348 million customers at 31 March 2012) and the number of
digital TV customers (ADSL and satellite) increased 14.9 percent to 663,000
customers at 31 March 2012.
Revenues from carrier services (unbundling, wholesale
broadband access and telephone line rentals) also increased. Similarly, the
development of ICT10 boosted business services.
REST OF WORLD
The Rest of World segment reported revenues of 2.134
billion euros in the first quarter of 2012, showing growth of 2.0 percent on a
comparable basis.
Revenues improved significantly in Africa and the Middle
East, rising 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2012, in contrast to stable
revenues in the second half of 2011, thanks to the recovery in Côte d’Ivoire
(+17.7 percent compared with -2.3 percent in the second half of 2011) and Egypt
(+3.5 percent after declining 7.8 percent in the second half of 2011).
Excluding Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt, revenues rose 6.2
percent, compared with an increase of 5.9 percent in the second half of 2011,
with a particularly strong contribution from Cameroon (+13.9 percent) and new
operations such as Uganda (+57.3 percent) and Niger (+29.5 percent).
The mobile services customer base in Africa and the
Middle East grew 16.0 percent year on year to 75.969 million customers at 31 March 2012 (+12.7
percent excluding the contribution from Iraq and the Congo);
In Europe, revenues rose 0.4 percent.
Revenues in Belgium grew 2.3 percent, led by data
services and smartphone sales.
In Romania, revenues improved with the growth of the
contract customer base (+3.5 percent year on year), rising 0.1 percent overall,
in contrast to the 1.8 percent decline in the second half of 2011.
Moldavia and Armenia also reported steady growth of their
contract customer bases. Slovakia reported a 9.4 percent decline in revenues,
partly due to non-recurring items in the first quarter of 2011.
Revenues in the Dominican Republic rose 2.1 percent. The
mobile services customer base grew 7.9 percent in the year to 31 March 2012,
led by the very strong growth in contract customer numbers (+25.5 percent).
In the Rest of World segment, mobile services had a total
of 99.4 million customers at 31 March 2012, a year-onyear increase of 10.9
million customers, including 1.5 million customers from CCT in the Congo and
0.7 million customers from Korek Telecom in Iraq.
Excluding these two countries, the customer base rose 9.8
percent with net additions of 8.7 million customers, led by Egypt (+2.3
million), Mali (+2.0 million), Cameroon (+1.1 million) and Senegal (+0.8
million).
ENTERPRISE
First quarter 2012 revenues in the Enterprise segment
were 1.734 billion euros, a decrease of 3.1 percent in relation to the first
quarter of 2011
Legacy networks reported 497 million euros in revenues, a
decrease of 13.8 percent, reflecting the downward trend in legacy network
solutions (-11.7 percent) and the decline in legacy data services (-23.3
percent) intensified by the termination of X25 offers.
Mature networks rose 0.7 percent to 709 million euros.
The 2.6 percent increase in IPVPN, led by the international operations, was
partially offset by the decline in broadcasting revenues (-3.7 percent), mainly
due to the complete shutdown of analogue television in France at the end of
2011.
Growing networks reported an 11.0 percent increase in
revenues to 97 million euros, generated by the rapid growth of Voice over IP
and satellite access, as in 2011.
Services rose 2.0 percent to 431 million euros, led by
integration services and customer relationship management, while equipment
sales remained stable compared with the first quarter of 2011.
