French operator Iliad announced that its mobile service Free Mobile attracted 5.205 million customers in its first year of operations, giving the fourth mobile operator an 8 percent share of the market. Free also continued to grow its fixed broadband base, reaching 5.364 million subscribers at year-end versus 4.849 million in 2011.
The expansion into mobile helped Iliad's annual sales rise 48.6 percent to EUR 3.15 billion. In the fourth quarter, sales rose 63.7 percent year-on-year to EUR 890 million, including EUR 286 million from the mobile activities and 11.9 percent growth at the fixed activities.
Free claims it took 67 percent of new mobile subscribers in the market in Q4, with net additions of 800,000. In the fixed market, Free estimates it took almost half new broadband subscribers last year. It also converted 140,000 of the former Alice subscribers acquired to the Free brand. Helped by its Freebox Revolution gateway, fixed ARPU improved EUR 0.50 over the year, ending two years of stagnation, to reach EUR 36.
