The telco’s 4G infrastructure reaches 77% of the population
French mobile operator Orange ended the third quarter of 2015 with 6.6 million LTE subscribers, posting 1 million net additions during the period, the company said in its earnings statement.
The company’s LTE network reached 77% of the French population by the end of the period, while Orange’s LTE-Advanced network is now deployed in half of the LTE sites in France’s 14 largest cities. The LTE service is provided through spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
LTE connections also grew in Orange’s other European countries, with 1.6 million customers in Poland; 800,000 customers in Belgium and Luxembourg; 750,000 subscribers in Romania; and 450,000 total customers in Slovakia at end of September. Orange said that on Sept. 30, 2015, LTE coverage was at 82% of the pops in Spain, 79% of the pops in Poland, 97% of the pops in Belgium, 71% of pops in Romania and 63% of pops in Slovakia. In Africa and the Middle East, Orange offers LTE services in Mauritius, Botswana, Jordan and Morocco.
“Our business performed particularly well this quarter, especially in France, Spain, Belgium, Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East and the enterprise market. This commercial momentum is supported by high levels of investment in very high-speed fixed and mobile broadband,” said Orange Group Chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard. “We have now exceeded 263 million customers worldwide with 111 million in Africa & Middle East. In France and the rest of Europe, we have 15 million 4G customers and 17 million in fixed broadband, of which 1.5 million use fiber.”
Taking into account Orange’s global operations, mobile customers reached 201.7 million at the end of September, climbing 6.1% compared to the year-ago period.
The telco’s quarterly revenues reached 10.3 billion euros ($11.4 billion), up 0.5% compared to the same period the previous year. In France, Orange’s revenues totaled 4.79 billion euros in the quarter. Total capital expenses for Q3 amounted to 1.56 billion euros, which accounted for 15.2% of revenues.
French Economy Minister clears Nokia Networks/Alcatel-Lucent merger
Nokia Networks announced it has received the required regulatory approvals to proceed with the filing of its public exchange offer for telecoms equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent. This follows the decision by the French Ministry of Economy to approve the proposed transaction.
“Today’s approval by France moves Nokia an important step closer to joining with Alcatel-Lucent and creating a new leader in next generation technology and services for an IP connected world,” Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri said. “We now look forward to providing our shareholders with the opportunity to approve the proposed transaction, and to giving Alcatel-Lucent shareholders and convertible bondholders the chance to exchange their securities for shares in Nokia. We firmly believe that this combination is a long-term value creation opportunity for both sets of investors and other stakeholders.”
Earlier this week, China’s Ministry of Commerce approved the acquisition.
With the completion of the regulatory requirements, Nokia Networks intends to proceed with the filing of the exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities. The exchange offer is set to comprise a French public exchange offer and a U.S. public exchange offer. The company said once the exchange offer period opens, the proposed transaction will remain subject to approval by Nokia shareholders and the successful closing of the exchange offer. The initial exchange offer settlement date is expected to be in the first quarter of 2016.
