Altice noted it is seeing performance improvements in the French market and confirmed plans to sell its towers in France and Portugal by the end of Q2 2018 as part of its plan to cut debt.

It said in Q4 2017 both its mobile and fibre businesses in France experienced the best quarterly performance in two years, in terms of new subscribers added. Its mobile postpaid customer base in the country increased by 80,000 in Q4 2017 and by 199,000 for the full year, marking “a significant improvement” compared to 2016, it said in its earning statement.

Altice’s 2017 total revenue was €23.43 billion while its Europe business brought in revenue of €14.72 billion. Net debt for Altice Europe stood at €30.85 billion at the end of Q4 2017.

These results are the last annual figures to be announced before Altice separates its US business and creates a new structure for its struggling European operations, in a company-wide shake-up intended to help curb a recent slump in performance.

Dexter Goei, president of the board, said that 2017 had been “the year of integration and execution” for the company.

“In 2018 and beyond, we will remain very focused on investing for growth in innovation, superior service and advanced networks to deliver a more robust and differentiated product portfolio to meet customers’ needs,” he said in the earnings statement.

Meanwhile CFO Dennis Okhuijsen said the company hoped to sign a deal on the sale of its telecommunications towers assets in the second quarter of 2018. He said the assets had garnered strong interest from more than 10 parties, including private equity firms and telecoms industry players.

Earlier this week it was reported American Tower and private equity company KKR reportedly made separate bids to acquire Altice’s telecoms towers.

Altice also continued its drive to dispose of non-core assets by entering into an agreement to sell its international voice business.