Bouygues Telecom weathers COVID-19 storm

Bouygues Telecom

A strong uplift in mobile subscribers post-lockdown has helped France’s Bouygues Telecom weather the COVID-19 storm, with the company posting solid first half results.

Parent company Bouygues said that the telco’s new adds since opening its stores on May 11 had been higher than before the crisi, giving its figures a powerful boost.

The company had 11.8 million mobile plan customers excluding MtoM at end-June 2020, an increase of 274,000 new customers since the end of 2019, including 161,000 in the second quarter alone. T

Bouygues Telecom had 1.2 million FTTH customers at end-June 2020, with 210,000 new adds since the end of 2019, including 93,000 in the second quarter. The FTTH penetration rate rose to 30% at end-June 2020, versus 20% a year earlier, enabling the company to narrow the gap with its competitors. It is confirming the strong demand for FTTH as customers emerge from lockdown. The company had a total of 4 million fixed customers at end-June 2020.

The telco also posted the strongest quarterly revenue growth of 4%, taking its sales to €3.042 billion for the first half. The company estimated that the hit it had taken as a result of the COVID-19 crisis to the tune of €70 million.

Sales from services, which includes TV, rose 8% to €2,404 million, reflecting growth in both the mobile and the fixed customer base and a rise in average revenue per unit.

EBITDA after Leases was up €58 million year-on-year at €711 million, a rise of 9%.

Current operating profit in first-half 2020 was €253 million, up €23 million year-on-year.