French new-entrant Free Mobile said it has secured 5.4 percent of the country’s mobile market in less than six months, with its subscriber base reaching 3.6 million.

In the last week, Free’s rivals SFR and Bouygues have both announced plans to cut their costs, in order to address the changing nature of the country’s mobile market since the low-cost player began operations earlier this year.

The company said its targets for the mobile unit include a 15 percent market share in the medium term and a long-term goal of 25 percent.

Mobile revenue for the Iliad Group-owned business was EUR320 million for the period. With the operation still in the start-up stage, it said that the “resounding commercial success” led to an EBITDA loss of EUR44 million.

It also said it is targeting coverage of 75 percent of the French population by the end of 2014, stating that it will “continue to intensify site rollouts, particularly in high-traffic areas”.

On a group level, Iliad reported a profit of EUR80 million, down 45 percent from EUR145 million, on revenue of EUR1.4 billion, up 39 percent. It noted issues including the start of depreciation and amortisation charges for its mobile assets and, to a lesser extent, similar charges for its fixed-line unit.

The company noted that growth its landline business is enabling it to absorb the EBITDA loss of the mobile activities.

Unlike its main mobile competitors, and due to the smaller size of its mobile business, Iliad noted that the reduction in mobile termination rates had boosted the profit for its fixed-line operations.