According to the company, this growth was driven by by equipment sales, which were up +10.8%, fixed broadband services which were up +5.3%, and IT and integration services which were up +5.1%.
In comparison, roaming revenue was down -31.1% year-on-year, a direct consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing travel restrictions.
“In spite of the effects of the health crisis which remained significant in the first quarter, the Group demonstrated its resilience, maintaining revenue growth (+0.5%) and stabilizing EBITDAal (-0.3%). Revenues in particular were sustained by the remarkable performance in Africa and the Middle East where Orange posted growth of more than 7% and passed the threshold of 130 million mobile customers,” said Stéphane Richard (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer of the Orange group.
“Growth reached 2.2% in the Europe segment excluding the Spanish market where recovery remains a priority. The Enterprise segment continues to improve following the difficulties faced in the second half of 2020 resulting from the first lockdown period. IT and integration services also advanced strongly, primarily in Cloud Computing, and Digital and Data, which saw annual revenue increases of 5% and 11% respectively.”
Regionally, the group’s Africa & Middle East operations saw the highest sales with revenue increasing by +7.1%. Africa and Middle is credited as the main driver of this growth.
In Poland, the unit saw growth of +4.1%, France was resilient with -0.2%, and Spain was notably negative with revenues of -7.4%.
Overall, the group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization after leases (EBITDAaL) fell to -0.3%.
Capital expenditure for the period increased 12.4% compared with the same period in 2020, due to network investments and fewer asset disposals.
Looking ahead, the group’s financial targets for 2021 include economic capital expenditure of between €7.6 - 7.7 billion and organic cash flow from telecoms activities over €2.2 billion.
