French operator Bouygues Telecom has raised its full-year revenue outlook, saying that it expects annual growth of 5-6 percent in service revenues compared with revised guidance released in August, when it decided to lower this target to 4 percent growth (from 5% previously). The company maintained unchanged its forecast for annual free cash flow (around EUR 250 million), confirming its decision to keep a high level of investment. It is now projecting that full-year gross capex will reach EUR 1.25 billion excluding the acquisition of 5G spectrum, from its previous forecast of around EUR 1.2 billion.
The third quarter saw overall revenues increase 7.9 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.63 billion. While the growth trend in overall revenues picked up quarter-on-quarter (+6.4% in Q2), service revenues increased at a slightly lower pace (+5.3% from +5.9% in Q2). Despite the negative effect of the Covid-19 crisis on roaming revenues, sales from mobile services rose 3 percent to EUR 830 million, while sales from fixed services progressed 10 percent to reach EUR 402 million.
Third-quarter EBITDAaL climbed to EUR 412 million, representing an increase of EUR 15 million from Q3 2019. Over the same period, current operating profit progressed 9 percent to EUR 191 million.
Commenting on the acquisition of MVNO Euro-Information Telecom (EIT), the company said that the transaction should close by early 2021. EIT is one of the largest MVNOs in France, with a customer base of approximately 2 million at end-2019.
In the fixed market, Bouygues Telecom has revised upwards its projected footprint of marketable FTTH premises, driven by a more ambitious target in rural areas covered by public initiative networks. By end-2022, its fibre offering will be marketed to 27 million premises, up from the previous objective of 22 million.
In terms of customers, the operator closed the quarter with nearly 1.38 million FTTH connections (+169,000 since June from +93,000 in Q2), representing 34 percent of the fixed broadband base (4.05 million). Overall, fixed broadband net additions improved to 64,000 from 25,000 in the previous three months.
The postpaid customer base was just short of 12 million at end-September, as the operator added 181,000 net subscriptions since June (+161,000 in Q2). Including M2M and prepaid connections, the overall mobile base expanded 5 percent year-on-year to 18.45 million, with 272,000 quarterly net additions (+168,000 in Q2).
5G services to roll-out nationally from December
Bouygues Telecom will open its 5G network for commercial use on 01 December, with the objective of achieving a national reach over the following twelve months. The deployment will be driven by a pragmatic approach, said the company, noting that it will initially focus on increasing network capacity to maintain good service quality in areas where data consumption is very intense.
