MADRID: Orange Spain was by far the parent group’s best performing unit in the three months to June, reporting revenues up 8.8 percent year on year to EUR 1.34 billion, driven by 141,000 net fibre additions in the quarter and 148,000 more mobile contracts. A total of 3.1 million customers had a converged services plan on 30 June, up 5.2 percent year on year and representing 82.5 percent of the fixed broadband customer base.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA rose 15.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2017 on a comparable basis to EUR 722 million and its adjusted EBITDA margin (27.5%) improved 1.6 percentage points compared to the year-earlier half. First-half capex was flat year on year at EUR 538 million, driven by continued fibre investment, with the number of homes reached increasing 2.4 million year on year to 10.7 million.
Mobile services also continued to recover, with revenues rising 7.5 percent year on year thanks to revamped offerings and the deployment of 4G, which had a total of 8.7 million users at the end of June, up 35 percent year on year. The overall mobile customer base grew to 15.84 million at the end of the second quarter compared to 15.49 million a year earlier, including 12.80 million postpay customers, up 4.7 percent year on year. Compared to Q1, Orange added 148,000 postpaid subscribers, while losing 76,000 prepaid users. Total quarterly ARPU was up 5.9 percent to EUR 14.2 from EUR 13.4 in Q2 2016.
Fixed services revenues surged 9.5 percent to EUR 518 million in the second quarter, led by continued strong revenue growth in fixed broadband, up 8.3 percent year on year, and a 4.4 percent rise in customer numbers to 4.180 million at the end of June. Broadband customer growth slowed to just 9,000 on a quarterly basis, as the addition of 141,000 subscribers was offset by 130,000 LLU customers. Fibre customers were up 60 percent year-on-year to 1.947 million, representing 47 percent of the company’s fixed broadband customer base, while TV subscribers increased by 42 percent year on year to 541,000 customers. Total quarterly broadband ARPU was up 3.4 percent year on year to EUR 32.0 at the end of June.
