France Telecom said the impact of the opening of the local telecommunications market to competition, which affected its telecommunication revenues in 2002, has substantially subsided. The quarterly decline in revenues from fixed line telephony in France slowed to 2.0% in Q2 2003 compared to a decrease of 4.8% in Q1 2003 and a decrease of 7.5% in Q4 2002. France Telecom's market share in local traffic in June 2003 amounted to 77.8% compared to 79.1% in March 2003, representing a decrease of 1.3 points over the second quarter compared to a decrease of 1.8 points in Q1 2003. Some other highlights of its quarterly report:
- Revenues from ADSL broadband Internet access (excluding revenues from Wanadoo clients) increased 75% compared to Q2 2002 due to the rapid development of ADSL in France.
The number of broadband Internet access connections (including Wanadoo's ADSL access in France) nearly tripled, reaching 2,037,000 for Q2 2003 compared to 695,000 for the year-earlier period. Growth continued at a steady rate, with 260,000 new ADSL connections in Q2 2003.
France Telecom aims to have 3 million ADSL connections by the end of 2003.
The company reported consolidated Q2 revenue of EUR 11.5 billion, a 3.3% decrease compared to Q2 2002 on a historical basis. On a comparable basis, excluding the negative effect of exchange rates and the exit from its Dutch cable operations, France Telecom's quarterly revenues continued to improve, with a 4.4% increase in Q2-2003, after a 3.3% increase in Q1 2003 and 2.9% in Q4 2002.
Revenues from Orange and Wanadoo recorded sustained growth in Q2 2003 comparable to that achieved during the preceding quarters.
Orange had a total of 45.6 million mobile customers globally at the end of Q2.
CAPEX for Q2 was EUR 1.1 billion, or 10% of quarterly revenues, compared to approximately EUR 1.7 billion EURs for Q2 2002 on a comparable basis, representing a decrease of approximately 34% and a savings of approximately EUR 578 million. Approximately 80% of CAPEX was allocated to growth sectors (compared to 20% for maintenance, renewal and operations). Spending on ADSL increased relative to Q2 2002.
