France Telecom Group revenue of EUR 39.9 billion for the first nine months of 2008, up 3.4% YoY on a comparable basis. Third-quarter 2008 revenue grew 2.3% on a comparable basis. The company said its performance comes in the context of the difficult general economic environment. Other than Spain and some emerging markets, the Group saw no impact on its operations from the slowdown in the economy. It's aim is to continue outpacing GDP in its key markets.
Some highlights:
Personal Communication Services
- Revenue from Personal Communication Services (PCS) totalled 21.985 billion euros in the first nine months of 2008, a 1.5% increase on an historical basis. This includes the unfavourable impact of exchange rates (-504 million euros) and the effect of changes in the scope of consolidation (-480 million euros with the sale of Orange's mobile operations in the Netherlands and the acquisitions of Voxmobile in Luxembourg and of Ten in France).
- On a comparable basis, growth for the first nine months was 6.4%. Excluding the impact of the rate decreases for call terminations and roaming (estimated at -663 million euros), growth continued to be very strong on a comparable basis, at 9.9%, following 10.8% growth in the first half.
- Third quarter 2008 revenue (7.604 billion euros) was up 0.8% on an historical basis and up 5.1% on a comparable basis. Excluding the impact of the rate decrease for call terminations and roaming (estimated at -208 million euros) quarterly revenue grew by 8.2%. This is driven both by mature Western European countries (particularly France, the United Kingdom and Belgium) and by emerging markets (particularly the Middle East and Romania).
- There were 117.6 million customers at 30 September 2008, excluding MVNOs, an increase of 12.0% year on year on a comparable basis (+12.6 million new customers, of which 3.2 million were acquired in the third quarter of 2008).
- The number of mobile broadband customers was up sharply at 23.2 million at 30 September 2008 compared with 12.8 million at 30 September 2007, an 81% increase year on year.
- The MVNO customer base in Europe rose to 2.5 million at 30 September 2008 (of which 1.7 million were
in France), compared with 1.5 million a year earlier on a comparable basis (of which 1.2 million were in
France).
Home Communication Services
- Revenue for the third quarter 2008 was up 0.7% on an historical basis (5.711 billion euros). On a
comparable basis, the quarter was down 1.2%. - Revenue from ADSL broadband services6, up 23%, very largely offset the downward trend in traditional
telephone services and represented 24.1% of total Home Communication Services revenue over the first
nine months of 2008, compared with 19.6% for the same period in 2007. - The number of residential ADSL broadband subscribers in Europe rose to 12.4 million at 30 September 2008,
representing annual growth of 11.1% on a comparable basis (1.2 million new ADSL subscribers). ADSL
Multiservices grew strongly - Tthe number of Liveboxes rose 35% in one year, with 7.5 million units sold in Europe at 30 September 2008,
up from 5.5 million at 30 September 2007 on a comparable basis. - There were 6.0 million Voice over IP customers at 30 September 2008, up from 4.1 million at 30 September
2007, growth of 49% in one year on a comparable basis. - ADSL digital TV services (IPTV) had a total of 1.746 million subscribers in Europe at 30 September 2008,
compared with 1.017 million at 30 September 2007, a 72% increase in one year.
Enterprise Communication Services
- Revenue for Enterprise Communication Services (ECS) totalled 5.740 billion euros for the first nine months of 2008, a 0.5% increase on an historical basis, including the unfavourable impact of exchange rates (-126 million euros) and the positive impact of changes in the scope of consolidation (+21 million euros), in particular with the integration of the "Enterprise" and "Managed Services" divisions of GTL India that was acquired in July 2007.
- Fixed telephony and traditional data services continued their downward trend, with a 5.4% decline for the first nine months of 2008 on a comparable basis (after a decline of 5.3% in the first half). This was less than the decline recorded in 2007 over the same period (-9.5% on a comparable basis), reflecting fewer migrations from data networks to IP networks after the steady depletion of previous years.
- Advanced Business Network Services rose 8.0% over the first nine months of 2008 on a comparable basis, after rising 7.9% in the first half. This rate of growth is higher than that of the first nine months of 2007 (+6.5% on a comparable basis), reflecting the continuing growth of IP network services. The number of IPVPN subscribers worldwide rose 9.8% year on year to 314,000 at 30 September 2008. Similarly, the Business Everywhere mobility offer was up 20.8% in France, with 664,000 users at 30 September 2008.
- Revenues for Extended Business Services continued their sharp climb. On a comparable basis, revenue grew 16.1% over the first nine months of 2008, after rising 16.0% in the first half. The Group's growth outperformed the market, driven by the growth of service platforms and consulting as well as project management operations linked to the management of business data networks.
- Other Business Services recorded a slowdown in revenue growth (+4.9% over the first nine months of 2008 compared with +10.9% in the first half), reflecting slower equipment sales. At the same time, broadcast services of the subsidiary Globecast continued to grow steadily.
Commenting on the third quarter results, Didier Lombard, France Telecom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "With third-quarter revenue growth of 2.3%, the Group has for the fourth consecutive quarter maintained a level of activity that outperformed the estimated average GDP across the Group's worldwide footprint."http://www.francetelecom.com
