Iliad improved its revenue growth to 8.4 percent in the first half of 2019, saying its new strategy started in 2018 is paying off. Service revenues increased 7.9 percent to EUR 2.486 billion, including growth of 0.7 percent in its home market France. The company also announced a new joint venture for its FTTH business in France with the infrastructure investor InfraVia.
EBITDA before leases for the first half totaled EUR 802 million, down 7.4 percent from a year earlier. This was due to a bigger loss in Italy, of EUR 108 million compared to EUR 28 million a year ago, after almost 1 million new customers were added there in the period.
EBITDA in France improved 1.8 percent to EUR 910 million, thanks to less reliance on roaming and a better subscriber mix. Total revenues in the French market were up 1.5 percent to EUR 2.432 billion, with growth accelerating from 1.0 percent in Q1 to 2.1 percent in Q2.
Iliad's net recurring profit declined 60.8 percent to EUR 91 million, impacted by increased investment spending.
Growth in France was led by the mobile business, with revenues up 3.7 percent to EUR 997 million. Service revenues rose 0.7 percent, including a 1.8 percent increase in Q2. A greater focus on higher value customers led to 145,000 net adds for the company's unlimited plan in the first half, for a total of 7.928 million at the end of June. This helped increase mobile ARPU 12 percent year-on-year to EUR 10.1.
The total mobile subscriber base was still lower in the period due to the loss of what Free says were low-margin customers and a turn away from sharply discounted promotional offers. Free ended the period with 13.314 million mobile customers, down by 77,000 in Q2 and 2.2 percent less than a year earlier.
In the fixed market, Free lost customers for a sixth consecutive quarter, with subscriptions dropping by 15,000 in Q2 (-16,000 in Q1) to 6.396 million. Iliad said the company was negatively impacted in the second quarter by "questionable mass communication regarding the brand on NextRadioTV channels", which are owned by rival Altice.
FTTH connections increased by 172,000 since March to reach 1.305 million, which Iliad said was the best performance in the market. The company said it should exceed its target of 500,000 fibre subscribers added this year as it puts a greater focus on fibre sales to help turnaround the fixed business.
