Orange credited its positive full-year performance to its Africa and Middle East units, which have been the main contributors to growth for the French telecoms group.
Orange Group chairman and chief executive Stephane Richard said the growth and dynamism in Africa have been “remarkable” with over 44 million 4G customers to date generating mobile data growth by 25%.
Africa and the Middle East saw a 9% revenue boost to €1.6 billion in Q4, the performance was driven by double-digit growth in retail services which saw quarter-to-quarter double-digit growth, as the fourth quarter saw a 10.8% increase (Q3 saw a 15% growth rate).
For the full year ending 31 December, the regions saw a 10.6% revenue increase to €6.3 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and special losses (EBITDAaL) increased 16.8% for the full year to €2.2 billion and operating margin grew two points due to strict cost control.
Mobile data and fixed broadband were the most attractive customer offerings with a growth rate of 25.2% and 23.5% respectively.
Revenue for the overall group increased a marginal 0.5% to €11.1 billion (£12.6bn), while EBITDAal is lower by the same rate to €3.1 billion but this was in line with targets with expectations for it to rise by 2.5% to 3%.
Richard said: “With my mandate as chairman and chief executive drawing to a close in the coming weeks, it is with pride that I look upon everything that we have accomplished over these past twelve years. I am confident about Orange’s future, that of a solid company that has shown itself capable of capturing new growth opportunities while at the same time strengthening its network leadership."
