Sustained operational and financial performance in a still active competitive environment

  • Mobile postpaid customer base +3.4% yoy / Cable customer base +27.0% yoy
  • Q2 Revenues +7.5% yoy / Q2 Retail service revenues +4.9% yoy
  • Q2 EBITDAaL+5.9% yoy (H1’21: +8.8%)

 

Q2 Operational Highlights

  • Commercial performance remains positive amid an active competitive environment, and lower impact of Covid-19 measures in comparison to last year.
  • Cable customer base increased by 17k during Q2 to 366k customers (+27% yoy). As a consequence the number of convergent mobile postpaid customers increasedas well.
  • 17k new mobile postpaid additions bringing total subscribers to 2.7m (+3.4% yoy) demonstrating the success of the Go portfolio.
  • B2C convergent ARPO decreased by 2.7% yoy to €73.6, as a result of the discounts provided on mobile tariff plans in convergence.Mobile only postpaid ARPO declined slightly by 0.6% yoy to €19.6, mainly explained by the decrease in domestic out of bundle traffic.

 

Q2 Financial Highlights

  • Revenues reached €325.4m, increasing by 7.5%. Retail service revenues continued to grow by 4.9%, mainly thanks to higher convergent service revenues (+15.5% yoy). The lower impact of the Covid-19 restrictions also resulted in higher equipment revenues, an improvement of the SMS traffic, and a revamp in both customer and visitor roaming.
  • EBITDAaL increased by 5.9% yoy to €91.1m, mainly driven by higher retail service revenues, supported by cost efficiencies. EBITDAaL margin reached 28%.eCapex grew by 52.1% yoy to €45.3m, mainly explained by the slowdown last year in cable installations and network deployment due to Covid-19 restrictions.

 

Xavier Pichon, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

Once again, we can look back at a quarter with solid results and strong commercial performance. We continued to prove that our Go portfolio remains competitive. We even improved our offer by increasing the data bundle of our Go Plus subscription. Although the competition was very active over the quarter, we were able to achieve solid net adds, both on mobile and convergence.

Furthermore, we demonstrated that we continue to be an innovative player, working on the company’s long-term competitive positioning. We announced that we will invest in the deployment of open passive “fiber-to-the-premise” pilots in Brussels, which will help us enrich our experience and to define our future positioning on multi-gigabit fixed broadband.

As many of us, I have been deeply moved by the floods that have impacted so many people in the country. Our teams and technical partners have put all their efforts to maintain and restore connectivity in the affected areas. My thoughts are with everyone impacted, including our customers, team members and their families.

 

Antoine Chouc, Chief Financial Officer, stated:

During the second quarter of this year, we managed to achieve total revenue growth of 7.5% compared to last year. The quarter was less impacted by the Covid-19 measures than last year, as shops were open and roaming as well as SMS traffic started to increase again.

Our retail service revenues also posted a steady growth of almost 5% compared to the second quarter of last year, boosted by the increase in our convergence service revenues. This evolution confirms the robustness of our growth. This “growth” combined with sustained cost management, resulted in an increase in EBITDAaL of almost 6%.

Taking into account these results, we are cautiously optimistic and reconfirm our guidance.

 

ENG OBEL_ER_Q2 2021 VF.pdf 745 KB

 

 

About Orange

About Orange Belgium

Orange Belgium is one of the major telecommunication operators on the Belgian market, with revenues of 1,749 million euros in 2023 and over 3 million customers on 31 December 2023, and in Luxembourg, via its subsidiary Orange Communications Luxembourg. Thanks to its own fixed and mobile networks, Orange Belgium offers both residential and business customers fixed and mobile connectivity services and convergent offerings (internet, telephony, television, including original TV content: Be tv, VOOsport, etc.). As a responsible operator, Orange Belgium invests to reduce its ecological footprint and promote sustainable and inclusive digital practices. Orange Belgium is also a wholesale operator, offering its partners access to its infrastructure as well as a broad portfolio of connectivity and mobility services, including offerings based on Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Orange Belgium is a subsidiary of the Orange Group, present in 26 countries with a total customer base of 298 million customers worldwide on 31 December 2023. The Group is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies under the brand Orange Business.

Orange Belgium is listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange (OBEL).

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