Orange UK revenues down 15pc

Orange's Q3 financial results show a 15 per cent decrease in revenue but a 1.9 per cent year on year growth in customer base to 16.110 million as of September 30.

The quarter's revenues were down to £1.14 billion. Revenues for the first nine months of 2009 are also down around 15 per cent to £3.41 billion. The company said that around 12 per cent of this decline was to the unfavourable exchange rate of the pound against the euro.

Revenues from Personal Communication Services fell 3.6 per cent to £3.3 billion, which the company said was almost entirely related to the impact of regulatory measures, presumably the cap on European roaming charges and lowered mobile termination rates.

The number of contract customers rose to 6.637 million as of September 30, a year-on-year increase of 10.4 per cent, with 257,000 net additions in Q3. Contract customers made up 41.2 per cent of the customer base.

The total number of customers excluding MVNOs rose 1.9 per cent year on year to 16.110 million.

Data services represented 25.2 per cent of the network's revenues, a 2.1 per cent increase compared with the first nine months of 2008.

The network also had 4.717 million mobile broadband customers, a 64 per cent increase year on year.