The operator Orange unveiled its third quarter financial results on Tuesday, which were rather mixed in France, despite an improvement on mobile. Customers still avoid it on landlines.
Orange’s quarterly report was released this Tuesday, October 24, 2023! So what state is the historic operator in at the end of the third quarter of 2023? Quite good, we could tell you, with a turnover of 11 billion euros across the entire group, up 1.8% over one year. If we look at the case of France, the company is suffering more, with revenues once again falling, and ever fewer subscribers on landlines, despite the good scores for fiber. On the mobile side, things are much better.
Orange cannot convince on landlines in 2023
Between the beginning of July and the end of September, Orange lost 31,000 fixed broadband customers. Since the start of the year, 85,000 people have left the operator. We are talking here about so-called “net” sales, that is to say after the accumulation of subscribers who have left the operator, and those who have joined.
Remember that this loss of customers is in addition to those of the two previous quarters. In Q1 2023, Orange lost 21,000, then 33,000 in Q2 2023.
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On optical fiber alone, Orange recorded 259,000 new subscriptions, already 796,000 since the start of the year. Despite this good figure, the conversion between arrivals and departures remains unfavorable. Not sure that the very high price of the new Livebox 7 will help the historic operator’s business on landlines.
Things are going better on the mobile part for Orange
Commercial performance was much better on mobile in the third quarter. Without counting prepaid offers, Orange has recruited 83,000 subscribers (in net sales) over the last three months.
This is much better than in the second quarter, when the operator welcomed 29,000 additional subscribers, and even more than the timid first quarter, which was barely positive (+3,000). Since the start of the year, Orange has already recruited 115,000 new subscribers, still in net sales. Concerning the termination rate indicator (the famous churn), this remains at a correct level, at 11.9%.
The next quarter will be to be studied closely on the Orange side. Like SFR, the operator has initiated new price increases, and it has especially cut into its promotional offers, reducing them from 12 months at a more advantageous rate to only 6 months. A controlled turnover, but further losses of subscribers by the end of the year? We will know in a few months.
Source : Orange
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