France Telecom-Orange was serving 209.6 million mobile and fixed access lines as of the end of 2010, up by 6% for the year. Consolidated revenues rose 0.6% in 2010, excluding regulatory effects, to 45.503
billion euros, with a second-half increase of 1.2% driven by all countries.
In its home market, the company captured an estimated 36% share of 4th quarter net additions in the ADSL market; and in mobile, its customer market share was 46.6%. However, margins slid -0.9 percentage points, reaching 34.4%, with a total restated EBITDA of 15.642 billion euros.
The company said it achieved many of its goals for 2010 as net debt was reduced, social factors inside the company were ameliorated, and the company's international presence was strengthened despite the turbulent economy.
France Telecom noted its recent alliance with Deutsche Telekom, saying it was looking at possible network sharing, a joint Wi-Fi network for offloading mobile traffic, and other project of joint interest. In a webcast conference, company executives also discussed an increased FTTH push in France as well as LTE rollout after mid-year 2012.
"The Group's strong performance in 2010 signals we are on the right track with our new business plan
Conquests 2015. Thanks to the collective commitment of all our colleagues we have restored both energy and
ambition to our commercial offering while also meeting all our financial objectives.
"For example in France our quadruple play offer, Open, met with great success and as a result our share of
new ADSL subscriber wins," stated France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard.
Some highlights:
- Mobile services customers reached 150.4 million at 31 December 2010 (excluding MVNO customers), for year on-year growth of 9.1% and 12.5 million net additions in the period. The majority of this growth was in Africa
and the Middle East, where total customers reached 59.0 million at 31 December 2010, up 23.1% year on year
(+11.1 million net additions). France added 595,000 customers, reaching 26.9 million customers at 31
December 2010, a 2.3% increase. The customer base in Poland grew significantly, with 618,000 additional
customers in 2010, and Armenia continued to grow rapidly, with 403,000 additional customers for the year.
The Group added 3.2 million contract customers, bringing the total to 51.2 million with year-on-year growth of
6.6%, led by the success of smartphones. - Fixed broadband services customers totaled 13.7 million at 31 December 2010, for a year-on-year increase of 3.4%
and 455,000 additional customers, of which 274,000 in France and 188,000 in Africa and the Middle East (Egypt,
Tunisia, Jordan and Senegal). The share of net additions in France grew significantly for the second consecutive
4 New operations in Africa: Kenya, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Central African Republic and Uganda.
6 quarter thanks to new offers and strengthened sales activities, with an estimated 36.0% share in the 4th quarter
versus 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. - Digital TV (IPTV and satellite) customer increased notably, with 4.1 million subscribers in Europe at 31 December 2010, a 28% increase (902,000 additional customers), primarily in France and Poland.
- Revenues in France rose 0.8% in 2010, with the second half (+1.3%) marked by very strong sales of mobile
services (+6.9%) led by data services and handset sales, and the rebound of ADSL continuing in the 4th
quarter, with the share of net additions improving significantly for the second consecutive quarter to an
estimated 36.0%, after reaching 28.2% in the 3rd quarter; - in Spain, the improvement seen in the previous quarters continued, producing annual growth of 2.8%, due to
steady growth in mobile services (+3.6% for the year) and improvement in fixed services sales, which were up
1.9% in the 2nd half; - in Poland, the success of segmented offers in mobile services resulted in renewed growth of the customer base
(+4.5% at 31 December 2010) and a 4.3% increase in revenues in the second half ; - in the Rest of World segment, Africa and the Middle East (excluding Egypt) showed continued strong growth at
+8.8% for the year, with new operations in Africa4 up sharply (+37%); Europe rose 0.9% for the year on continued
strong growth in Belgium (+5.6%), while Romania showed improvement (-7.8%) after the sharp downturn in the
previous year (-16.7%); - the Business segment's downturn in revenues was limited to 3.6% in the 2nd half on improved services sales
(deployment of service platforms and solutions) and the rebound in network equipment sales.
