In its Q1 results, the telecoms giant reported a 3.2% increase year-on-year in EBITA, to €2.48 billion ($2.81 billion), with revenues edging up by 0.6% YoY, reaching €9.91 billion.
The biggest contributor to growth was Orange’s Africa & Middle East region, with a 12.8% increase in revenue , thanks to strong performance in mobile data, fixed broadband, Orange Money and B2B services.
However, in France, where Orange is headquartered, revenues fell by €55 million (1.3%), with wholesale services dropping as expected by 4.3%.
Orange CEO, Christel Heydemann said: “In France, we maintained our commercial discipline and continued to grow retail revenues, thanks to strong performances in fibre and convergence. In a competitive environment, the variety of our offers across all market segments and the satisfaction of our customers make Orange the leader by market share, NPS and churn.
“The Africa & Middle East region experienced exceptional double-digit revenue growth for the eighth consecutive quarter. All growth engines are performing well, in particular our data offers, which represent 60% of growth this quarter. This momentum is driven by our 4G and 5G networks, used by more than 80 million customers.”
Missing target by €13 million, Orange revealed the decrease was primarily driven by a weaker performance at Orange Business, which came in €45 million (2.4%) below expectations.
Overall, Orange Business revenues decreased by €96 million (4.9%) due to drops in fixed and mobile services. IT and Integration Services revenues also fell by €23 million in a competitive market, the company claimed.
Retail services grew by 2.4% during the quarter, contributing to overall stability for the group. By the end of the period, Orange had 95.7 million mobile customers worldwide and its fibre-to-the-home user base expanded to 15 million.
Heydemann added: “In an uncertain economic context, these results demonstrate the resilience of our business and the trust our customers have in the quality of our services across all our regions."
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