Orange’s TV base climbs to 8.92m customers

Orange Group reported TV gains in its latest quarter with its overall customer base climbing to 8.92 million from 8.20 million a year earlier.

Announcing its third quarter results, Orange reported gains across all of its TV countries – including its biggest and home market of France.

Here Orange’s TV customer numbers climbed from 6.51 million in Q3 2016 to 6.84 million in Q3 2017 – up 5% year-on-year.

In Spain its number of TV customers climbed 29.5% to 593,000, while in Poland the number was up 7% to 814,000.

In Belgium and Luxembourg TV customers more than tripled from 22,000 in Q3 2016 to 85,000 in Q3 2017, while in Central Europe its TV customer base grew 35.5% to 534,000.

Overall Orange reported revenue growth of 0.9% on a comparable basis to €10.27 billion in the third quarter of 2017.

Adjusted EBITDA grew 2.1% in the third quarter to €3.62 billion, despite the impact of the first full quarter since new European regulations ended roaming charges and increased interconnection costs with operators in other countries.

“This quarter demonstrates very good momentum at Orange, supported more than ever by investment in customer experience and our networks,” said Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of the Orange Group.

“We attracted nearly half a million mobile contract customers and 321,000 fibre customers in France and the Europe segment in the past three months. Despite new roaming regulation in Europe, we delivered revenue growth for the ninth consecutive quarter and adjusted EBITDA growth of 2.1%.

“Orange France also confirmed its return to growth and had a particularly strong third quarter in mobile, with 320,000 net additions – its best performance since 2008.”