Group CEO spells out the reasons for Orange’s financial results for 2018 – content and fast access are two of them.
Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange Group, noted an increase in revenues of 1.3%, a 2.7% growth in adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation]. Fourth quarter sales were €10.81 billion.
He said the company had had “an excellent commercial performance across all of our geographies, 2018 confirmed the validity of our strategic focus on fibre, 4G and convergence, in a market environment that remains highly competitive”.
He said, “Maintaining our steady pace of deployment, we passed 29 million FTTH-connected households in Europe, confirming our position as number one for the third consecutive year. In France, in particular, 2018 was a record year with approaching 600,000 net sales taking us to a total of 2.6 million FTTH clients.
Best in France
“The quality of our mobile networks continues to make the difference: we were voted best network in France for the eighth consecutive year and we deployed 4G in 12 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
“Our leadership in terms of connectivity is the foundation of our well-established multi-service strategy. In terms of content, we celebrated 10 years of OCS [formerly Orange Cinéma Séries], which now has nearly 3 million clients.
“In financial services, Orange Bank has attracted nearly 250,000 clients in France and Orange Money continued its strong growth to reach 14 million active clients.
“Finally, the diversification of our B2B business continues with the structurally important acquisitions in 2018 of Enovacom, Business & Decision and Basefarm.
Fortified by a renewed executive team and the flawless commitment of our employees, we delivered on our stated commitments for the year. 2019 will be another year of growth and a pivotal one for the Group, during which we will present our new strategic plan Vision 2025.”