In reaching a relatively stable first quarter, France’s leading carrier, Orange, believes that the French telecom price war is finally coming to close.
“This quarter is satisfying for us especially as the margin stabilizes,” Orange finance chief Gervais Pellissier told Businessweek. “Orange’s profitability has been under pressure since 2009, with prices slashed and important changes in European telecoms.”
Orange announced that its first quarter consolidated revenue declined 3.8% to $13.6 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 3.4% to $4.181 billion. The EBITDA margin was a stable 30.8% for the quarter compared to the same quarter of 2013.
Orange credited the cuts to wireless subsidies and labor costs for slowing its decline in profitability.
France’s telecom price war is often attributed to the low cost offers of Iliad, the No. 4 carrier, which entered the market in 2012 and operates under the brand “Free.” The French market is undergoing another big shift this year with the recent deal to sell the No. 2 player SFR to the Altice Group which controls the cable operator Numericable. That deal has, in turn, spurred talk of a potential acquisition of the No. 3 carrier Bouygues by Iliad.
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