Orange Reaches 174 Million Accesses

France Telecom group’s consolidated revenues for the first half 2008 rose to EUR 26.304 billion, a 3.9% increase on a comparable basis following a 3.6% increase in the second half of 2007. This improvement concerned mature Western European markets, which were up 3.0% on a comparable basis. Revenues in developing markets were up by 11.2% in the first half 2008. On an historical basis, growth in the first half 2008 was 1.5%, including the unfavourable impact of exchange rates (-€336 million), the disposal of the mobile and Internet operations of Orange Netherlands, and the acquisition of Ya.com in Spain on 31 July 2007.

For Q2 , France Telecom’s consolidated revenues were €13.276 billion, a 4.1% increase on a comparable basis, compared with a 3.7% increase in the first quarter. Growth from mature Western European markets continued to improve, rising 3.4% in the second quarter 2008 compared with 2.5% in the first quarter.

Some highlights:

• Personal Communication Services saw revenues climb 7.3% in the quarter on a comparable basis, higher than the 6.8% growth achieved in the first quarter, also on a comparable basis. The improvement in the second quarter was primarily related to strong growth in contract customers in France and the United Kingdom. At the same time, Poland and the emerging markets continued their steady growth, despite the impact of lower prices.
• The Group had 113.8 million PCS (mobile) customers at 30 June 2008, excluding MVNOs, up 13.2% year on year on a comparable basis (13.3 million customers added).
• The number of mobile broadband customers nearly doubled in one year to 21.0 million at 30 June 2008 (of which 9.0 million in France), compared with 10.8 million at 30 June 2007 (of which 5.2 million in France).
• The MVNO customer base in Europe rose to 2.3 million at 30 June 2008 (of which 1.6 million in France), compared with 1.4 million one year earlier on a comparable basis (of which 1.1 million in France).
• Home Communication Services (HCS) posted a 0.7% increase in revenues on a comparable basis, up slightly from the first quarter which itself was stable compared to the previous year. The continuous growth of ADSL broadband benefited Home Communication Services, particularly in France, rising to 12.2 million customers in Europe at 30 June 2008, with more than 500,000 new customers added in the first half 2008.
• Revenues from ADSL broadband services4, up 29%, very largely offset the downward trend in traditional telephone services. ADSL broadband revenues represented 24% of total HCS revenues in the first half of 2008, compared with 19% in the first half of 2007.
• The number of Liveboxes rose 42% in one year, with 7.1 million units leased in Europe at 30 June 2008, up from 5.0 million at 30 June 2007 on a comparable basis.
• There were 5.7 million VoIP customers at 30 June 2008, up from 3.5 million at 30 June 2007, an increase of 61% year on year (figures on a comparable basis).
• Revenues from traditional calling services dropped 17.9% on both an historical basis and a comparable basis, due to the rapid growth of Voice over IP services.
• ADSL digital TV services (IPTV) had a total of 1.54 million subscribers in Europe at 30 June 2008, compared with 872,000 one year earlier, a 76% increase in one year.
• Enterprise Communication Services revenues were up 3.9% in the second quarter 2008, after rising 2.0% in the first quarter (on a comparable basis). This reflects a gradual slowing of the downward trend that has characterized traditional telephony and data services. At the same time, sales of ICT services2 continued to grow steadily and were up 11.3% in the first half 2008, outperforming the market.
• Capital expenditure on tangible and intangible assets (CAPEX) rose to €3.134 billion in the first half of 2008, a 5.6% increase on an historical basis and a 5.2% increase on a comparable basis.

http://www.orange.com