Iliad grows FY revenues 4.1 percent to EUR 2.12 billion

French telecom group Iliad increased its revenues by 4.1 percent to EUR 2.12 billion in 2011, buoyed by an increase of over 6 percent in the fourth quarter. Iliad grew EBITDA by 4.4 percent to EUR 833.4 million in 2011, for a 39.3 percent margin, partly thanks to the positive effect of lower operating costs and a rise in unbundling rates. Profit from ordinary activities rose by 4.2 percent, to EUR 498.2 million, while profit before non-recurring items decreased by 6.7 percent to EUR 254.8 million. Iliad's main business, the ISP Free, gained 407,000 net broadband subscribers last year, excluding Alice subscriber migrations, giving it a 35 percent share of net adds, based on regulator Arcep's market figure of 1.15 million net ADSL adds. Iliad had 4.85 million broadband subscribers at the end of 2011, compared to 4.53 million a year earlier, with Free's customer base rising to 4.46 million from 3.97 million, and Alice's falling to 388,000 from 565,000. Iliad's percentage of unbundled subscribers rose to 92.2 percent from 89.2 percent year-on-year.

Iliad has confirmed its objectives of having a 25 percent share of the landline broadband market in the long term, of increasing its FTTH subscriber connections while continuing horizontal rollouts and equipping 2,500 mobile sites by the end of the year. For its landline business, Iliad targets over 5 percent revenue growth and a free cash flow from ADSL operations of over EUR 1.1 billion between 2010 and 2012. For the group as a whole, it anticipates robust revenue growth this year and over EUR 4 billion by 2015. Iliad's annual results press release does not give any subscriber figures for the Free Mobile service launched in January, stating that it had put in place an effective organisational structure to ensure its successful launch and meeting its population coverage requirements. French press reports put Free Mobile's estimated number of subscribers at upwards of 1.5 million. Iliad CFO Thomas Reynaud said subscriber figures would be announced with first quarter results in May.