France Telecom blames regulation for revenue slump

Dylan Bushell-Embling | July 29, 2010

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France Telecom has blamed regulation for a 2.2% slump in first half revenue, and a corresponding decline in operating profit.

Operating profit fell to €4.71 billion from €5 billion the year before, and ebitda fell 4.6% on a comparable basis to €7.74 billion – or 35% of revenues.

The operator reported revenue of €22.1 billion during the first six months of the year, but said the figure would have been stable if excluding the effects of regulation.

Regulatory measures harmed France Telecom's revenue to the tune of €507 million during the period, the company said.

Revenues from the telco’s home market fell 2.2% to €11.6 million, but would have grown 0.3% excluding the effects of regulation, the company said.

CEO Stephane Richard said the result showed that the group was maintaining its “resilience despite the unsettling economic conditions in our main markets.”

He committed to an annual dividend of €1.40 million for each of the coming three years.

The group's overall customer base increased by 3.8% to 182 million by end June.

Mobile subscribers increased 6.6% to 123.1 million, while ADSL subscribers grew 2.2% to 13.2 million.

Source:

telecomseurope.net

Dylan Bushell-Embling

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