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Michaël Trabbia, CEO of Orange Belgium, calls the possible 4th telecom operator to show itself rather than "destabilize the market". He wrote to the federal government to express his concerns.
Last Saturday, the day after the publication of an important badysis of the telecoms regulator, Michaël Trabbia, CEO of Orange Belgium
, already hammered in L'Echo: " The report of the BIPT on the impact of a fourth operator (mobile network, Ed) mobile confirms that the competition problem is not in the mobile, but in the fixed . Prices have dropped in recent years and, overall, the report says there would be a problem of a four-player market. Four networks (that of Proximus, Telenet, Orange, and a possible fourth actor, Ed.) in Belgium, that does not hold Moreover, I do not think that there is business case for a new entrant in the country . "
Fear of speculation
A reality that does not prevent the speculation in the sector since the disclosure in mid-June of the interest of a European player to invest Belgium, via the deployment of a network, what calls the competent minister, Alexa nder De Croo (Open VLD), of his wishes
"If this actor is so serious, he goes out of the woods. That he shows that he is not just working to destabilize the market, entered a period of uncertainty since then "
so serious, "
out of the woods that he is showing that he is not merely trying to destabilize the market, he has entered a period of uncertainty since then ", even as an operator like Orange is working to launch an internet-only offer, as well as the advent of 5G.
So the boss took his pen and wrote to the federal government to express its concerns, it was learned on Friday. He asked to be auditioned in order to make hear the elements absent from the badysis of the regulator, document "established in urgency, without consultation and without declared candidate". Many black spots that call for a greater listening of the sector, according to Michaël Trabbia, for whom the government carries "a heavy responsibility" in this file .
For its part, Agoria, federation of the technology industry, also warned against the arrival of a fourth entrant, evoking the loss of 6,000 jobs, less coverage and networks 20% slower as a result of a new mobile network operator on the market .
On the commercial field
14,000 it is the number of new customers that attracted Orange Belgium with its convergent offer "Love" to Second quarter of the year. Result, the operator can now boast a base of some 136,000 subscribers, two years after its incursion into this niche.
136,000
subscribers
Orange Belgium now totals 136,000 convergent subscribers, about two years after its incursion into this niche.
If the market share of the company remains marginal in comparison with Proximus, Voo or Telenet, it nevertheless highlights a change in the market, that the recent Regulatory revision is expected to increase further in the coming months. Indeed, the pricing system of wholesale prices (prices between operators) will be reviewed on a model (called "cost plus") that should give a breath of fresh air to Orange.
Side mobile Orange added 26,000 net customers in the second quarter bringing its base of mobile subscribers to 2.36 million in the country and this, while the prepaid (the cards without subscription) continues to fall, a trend that has become traditional, but that the operator here has particularly limited, with its "best performance of the last 11 quarters" (-6,000 units).
Moreover, at the financial level, the turnover over the half year increased by 3.1% compared with the same period last year, reaching 619.6 million euros. "And this, s years have increased our prices neither in 2017 nor in 2018, even as the regulation pushed wholesale prices up," tapped Michael Trabbia.
A rise that could have been more important if it had not been necessary to cope with a fall in wholesale revenues (prices charged between operators) linked to the departure of Telenet and Lycamobile customers-as a result of the acquisition of Base, which allowed the operator to get their hands on their own mobile network – that Orange hosted until then. Otherwise, the revenues of the operator's core business jumped 6.7%, driven mainly by Flanders, which seems particularly appreciative of the proposed Love offer in a context of rising prices.
In addition, Consolidated EBITDA was down to 127.3 and 66.7 million euros in the first and second quarters, against 146.5 and 78.1 million euros a year ago. Here again, this decrease is explained by these departures of virtual mobile operators (MVNO), but also by the effects of the "Roam Like at Home" (RLaH) regulation July 2017, which eliminated roaming charges within the Union for Consumers. This last point still weighed 15 million euros on the EBITDA in the first half, but, "as of the next quarter, it will have more impact," rebadures Arnaud Castille, CFO of Orange Belgium. Moreover, for the MVNO, the impact is estimated at 23 million euros lost, plus 7 million expected in the second half of 2018, or 30 million in total, which the arrival of Medialaan customers (Mobile Vikings and Jim Mobile) will compensate somewhat, by their significant consumption of data, from the spring of 2019, we are told, even if they are less numerous.
P by the end of the year [19659020] Orange Belgium confirms its financial objectives pointing to "a slight increase in turnover and an adjusted EBITDA between 275 and 295 million euros". "We are pretty confident about guidance," he said.
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