Orange posts encouraging revenues
Mobile phone operator Orange today posted third quarter revenues ahead of market expectations, as it unveiled a strategy aimed at making it easier to use new services.
Orange, majority owned by France Telecom, said revenues in the three months to September 30 had risen 8.1% to €4.7bn.
Customer numbers had increased 2.9% to 46.9 million in the quarter, with 1.3 million net additional subscribers, of which 249,000 were in France, 113,000 in the UK and 963,000 in the rest of the world.
Orange called the results excellent and said the company’s UK performance had been strong in a fiercely competitive market.
But it said it needed to make it easier for customers to access new services.
Chief executive Sol Trujillo said Orange would unveil a series of initiatives in France and the UK next week intended to increase so-called “non-voice usage” of mobile phones.
“What our customers want is real ease of use,” Mr Trujillo said.
Orange, which operates in 18 different countries, said total year-on-year revenues rose 6.3% to €13.3bn.
Orange France year-on-year revenues grew 5.7%, while Orange UK revenues were up 7.9% on a proforma basis, and the rest of world operations grew 21.1% to about €3.2bn, representing 24% of total group revenues.
It said the rest of the world customer base had exceeded the UK for the first time, reaching just under 14 million customers.
Non-voice revenues accelerated 25% to €1.51bn, which the group said represented more than 12% of network revenues.
Orange today said the initiatives designed to further increase non-voice usage to be detailed next week would include a new phone personalisation portal known as Orange World, new simple tariffs and the rollout of Orange Phone Trainers beyond the UK to improve training for store staff.
Last month France Telecom announced plans to take over the stake in Orange it does not already own.
The French state-owned telecoms group said it planned to submit an exchange offer for Orange shares to France’s regulatory authorities, aiming to buy the remaining 13.8% of Orange in a deal valued at £4.95bn (€7.2bn).
Today, Orange temporarily suspended its shares in Paris and London in order to progress the acquisition.
