Iliad hit out at reports its Free Mobile brand is losing subscribers to Orange in France, stating its 4G user base increased during Q2, though it conceded there had been losses among customers on low cost plans.

Earlier this week French and international business press quoted a number of sources stating the company was “suffering” in France with a record number of customers defecting from Free to Orange during Q2.

The scrutiny caused Iliad’s share price to drop from €144 before the first reports by Bloomberg to €133 at the start of trading today (2 August).

In a statement, Iliad said: “The group has clearly defined its priority of increasing its Free Mobile 4G plan subscriber base. An extremely competitive environment in the second quarter led to a fall in the €0/month and €2/month plans subscriber base, but the number of Free Mobile 4G Plan subscribers has continued to increase steadily.”

Customer gains
While market competitors Orange and SFR have already announced metrics for Q2 2018, Iliad is not scheduled to release its next trading update until early September.

In a Q2 2018 earnings statement published earlier today, SFR said it achieved its first quarterly net additions in contract customers for the first time since Q4 2015: last week Orange reported a net gain of over 500,000 contract customers during the recent quarter.

As part of its annual report for 2017 Iliad said Free Mobile had been: “France’s leading recruiter of mobile subscribers for six consecutive years now, with nearly one million net adds in 2017.” At the end of Q1 2018 it also reported an increase in its base.

Free Mobile shook the French market on its entry in 2012, rapidly recruiting customers with deals which initially undercut the country’s other providers. Earlier this year parent Iliad launched in Italy with a similarly aggressively priced opening deal to attract users.