Orange recorded a small rise in revenue during Q3 2019, with continued strength in Africa and the Middle East offsetting declines at home in France and Spain.

The operator said in a statement revenue grew 0.8 per cent year-on-year to €10.6 billion, with core operating profit also growing modestly, up 0.2 per cent at €3.6 billion.

Africa and the Middle East sales rose 7.6 per cent to €1.4 billion. The company said eight countries out of 17 recorded double-digit growth and it now had 22.5 million 4G customers in the regions, a 49 per cent increase.

Struggles
The picture, however, was not so rosy in France or Spain, two of the operator’s largest markets.

In France, revenue dipped 0.4 per cent to €4.5 billion, which the company put down to the impact of its ePresse and audiobook content offers. There was a more pronounced decline in Spain, with revenue of €1.3 billion down 2.5 per cent, due to general market moves towards the middle and low segments, and increased competition.

Revenue from the company’s rest of Europe segment grew 1.4 per cent, on the back of strong convergence and enterprise demand.

Total convergent customer numbers grew 4.1 per cent to 10.7 million and the company recorded 209.4 million mobile customers overall, a 4.2 per cent increase, again driven by Africa and the Middle East.

Stephane Richard, Orange chairman and CEO, said the results “further attest to the relevance of our very high-speed broadband network strategy”.

He added the company plans to hold a presentation on 4 December to announce a new strategic plan, up to 2025.

Orange Bank
Almost two years after launching its Orange Bank initiative, the operator said it now supplies 344,000 accounts and had issued 122,000 loans.

Its “active customer” Orange Money user base grew 22 per cent to 16.6 million, with revenue from the segment up 29 per cent. It ended the quarter with 44 million Orange Money customers overall, of which a third are classified as active.