Orange has described convergence as the “bedrock” of its strategy, with such services generating €1.7 billion in revenues in Q1 alone.
This, according to the company in discussing its latest set of results, was 4.6% higher on the corresponding period last year.
In France, its broadband B2C customer base amounted to 5.7 million in Q1, or 55% of the total, while in Spain it stood at 3.08 million, equivalent to 84%. In Poland the figure was 1.28 million, or 59%.
Convergence has also reduced churn in the three markets, by 3, 3 and 4pts respectively, and increased convergent quarterly ARPO in two, with Spain seeing 1.8% growth.
In Europe as a whole, Orange had revenues of €1,389 million in Q1, up 1.4% on a year earlier. Though only claiming €142 million of the total, convergent services saw the strongest growth (+42.8%).
Commenting on the Q1 results, Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of Orange Group, said: “During the first quarter, the froup succeeded in maintaining its high quality commercial performance in spite of a particularly challenging competitive context notably in our two principal countries of France and Spain. Our strategy is paying off since EBITDAal is continuing to grow while revenues remain stable, allowing us to reaffirm our 2019 objectives. It’s worth noting that while the level of eCapex for this quarter is higher, it should reduce slightly for 2019 as a whole, as predicted, excluding the effect of the network sharing agreement with Vodafone in Spain announced on 25 April.
“The validity of our fibre strategy has been confirmed. We’ve accelerated deployment in France, Spain and Poland, reinforcing our European leadership position with 33.7 million connectable households, 12.4 million of which are in France. This progress can also be seen in a very positive commercial performance; in particular, France delivered another record quarter in terms of new fibre subscribers, adding a further 168,000 customers.
“We have also reinforced our already strong position in mobile: some 60 million clients worldwide now enjoy our 4G network, and we continue with the deepening of our network in Europe and in Africa.
“Convergence continues to be an engine for growth and loyalty for the Group. We are the European leader in this field with over 10 million customers, representing nearly 40% of our consumer revenues for the continent.
“I’d also like to highlight the very solid results from our Africa and Middle East operations that once again recorded revenue growth of over 5%. Indeed, with the rapid roll-out of our 4G networks, to the benefit of 17.6 million clients, and the growing availability of affordable smartphones, mobile internet usage is taking off and accounts for two thirds of mobile revenue growth.
“Finally, this quarter marks a new milestone in our multi-services operator strategy. In addition to our initiatives in mobile financial services in Africa and Europe, we have launched two new offers in France that will capitalise on our presence in the home: “Home protection” is a remote monitoring service that is already off to a very encouraging start, and “Connected home” brings together our ambitions for IoT in the home.
“My warm thanks go to all of the Group’s employees who have, through their commitment, made possible these results in a challenging environment.”
