First-quarter earnings at France Telecom – owner of the Orange brand and Europe’s third-largest telecoms group – dropped 4.4 percent year-on-year on a comparable basis, which it attributed mainly to the costs of buying content for its new Orange TV service in France. EBITDA for the quarter stood at EUR4.3 billion, compared to EUR4.63 billion a year earlier and below the average estimate of EUR4.45 billion polled in a Bloomberg analyst survey. Revenues for the quarter rose 0.4 percent to EUR12.685 billion on a comparable basis, which the firm said was greater than average GDP growth in its geographic footprint, but declined by 2.6 percent on an historical basis from EUR13.027 billion a year ago. Capex for the quarter was EUR1.23 billion, equating to a capex-to-revenue ratio of 9.7 percent, versus 11.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008. The group confirmed its organic cash flow target of EUR8 billion this year, the same level as in 2008, and hinted that it would remain cautious in the current economic climate. “If the economic environment deteriorates further, capital spending could be revised downward to preserve organic cash flow,” the firm said in a statement.

France Telecom’s total customer base grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 183.5 million, driven mainly by growth in its mobile businesses. Mobile customers reached 122.9 million customers by the end of the quarter, a 9.5 percent increase year-on-year. This included a 9 percent rise in contract customers and a 80 percent rise in mobile broadband customers, to 20.6 million. The firm also announced that it had increased its shareholding in its Spanish business – France Telecom Espana (Orange Spain) – from 81.6 percent to 99.85 percent. The firm said it was paying EUR1.374 billion to buy-out minority shareholders, Banco Santander group, Unicaja, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.