Orange Q2 profit rises helped by Africa and Middle East
Corrects currency conversion in paragraph 2
July 24 (Reuters) -French telecom operator Orange ORAN.PA reported a rise in second-quarter core profit on Wednesday,mainly on a strong performance in Africa and the Middle East.
Core profit after leases rose 2.6% year-on-year to 3.11 billion euros ($3.37 billion), broadly in line with a company-provided consensus that had expected 3.10 billion.
That was helped by Africa and the Middle East where revenues grew 10.3%. In Europe, they declined 2.2%, but the group still made a profit there.
Orange has been losing some broadband customers in France as people use less telecom services post-pandemic, and cut spending because of the rising cost of living.
Asked about price cuts by competitors in France and the potential loss of customers by Orange, CFO Laurent Martinez said there was "definitely a bit of competitive pressure on the low-end of the market, on the mobile, since a few weeks".
A typical Orange mobile package in France is more expensive than from its rivalsincluding SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Orange still reported gaining a net +104,000 mobile customers for the second quarter in France, mainly thanks to its low-cost brand Sosh. But it lost some fixed broadband customers.
The group on Wednesday confirmed its full-year guidance, expecting low-single digit-growth in EBITDAaL.
It also announced a non-binding agreement with Vodafone Spain to create a shared fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network that would cover about 4 million customers.
They intend to welcome a third investor in the project, Orange added.
($1 = 0.9217 euros)
Reporting by Olivier Sorgho and Leo Marchandon; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Alex Richardson
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