Low cost French operator makes significant gains in Q1

Iliad’s Free Mobile – the low-cost French operator launched at the beginning of the year – revealed that it had signed up 2.6 million subscribers by the end of Q1, claiming to have captured nearly four per cent of the French mobile market in just 80 days.

The firm highlighted figures to show that the total French market had grown by 854,000 subscribers in Q1, suggesting that Free Mobile’s 2.6 million customers included a substantial number of defections from rivals. Market-leader Orange France lost 615,000 mobile customers following Free Mobile’s launch on January 10.

The firm also did well in its traditional fixed broadband business, surpassing five million subscribers for the first time. It added 191,000 new subscribers in the period, which it said accounted for “well over” half of all the country’s broadband net additions.

Iliad’s total Q1 revenue rose 29 per cent to €655.7 million (US$839 million). This included €97.5 million of revenue from the new mobile business.