Free adds 820,000 mobile customers in strong first half

News General France 31 AUG 2015
Free adds 820,000 mobile customers in strong first half

French operator Free’s (Iliad) revenue rose by 6.9 percent to EUR 2.16 billion in the first half, compared to EUR 2.02 billion in the year-earlier period. Growth was driven by the mobile segment, which increased its sales by 18.1 percent to EUR 880.4 million. Landline revenue (fixed voice, internet, TV) rose by 0.5 percent to EUR 1.29 billion. 

Free added 820,00 mobile subscribers in the first half, reaching a total of nearly 11 million. This gives it an estimated 16 percent mobile market share in just over three years since launch. It had 2.4 million 4G users at the end of June, consuming an average of 2.2 GB of data per month. Free also added 123,000 fixed broadband customers, representing an estimated 36 percent share of France’s net adds in the period. The group had 5.99 million broadband customers at the end of June. 

Free increased its profitability sharply, with an over 65 percent rise in first-half EBITDA to EUR 725 million. Its EBITDA margin grew by 2.7 percentage points to 33.6 percent. Net profit rose by 17.2 percent to EUR 162.9 million. 

Free’s aggressive promotions strategy grew its customer base significantly, but caused a decline in ARPU. Mobile ARPU dropped slightly to EUR 34.50, and broadband ARPU to EUR 34.50 from EUR 35.80 a year earlier. 

Capital expenditure reached EUR 613 million in the first half, as the operator opened over 800 3G sites and nearly 1,900 4G sites, introduced the Freebox mini 4K STB, and accelerated its VDSL2 and FttH rollout.

Free has a long term target to take a 25 percent broadband market share. It also aims to deploy over 1,500 mobile sites and to reach around 60 percent LTE population coverage this year. Its long term market share objective is also 25 percent. 

The group is aiming for over 10 percent EBITDA growth this year and to maintain similar capital expenditure in the second half. It is targeting an over 40 percent EBITDA margin by 2020. 

Categories:

General

Companies:

Free,  Iliad

Countries:

France

Tags:

Voice services, Data services, Messaging, Sales figures, Wireline, Wireless, Internet Access

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