Iliad targets €10bn after ‘year of exceptional growth’

France’s Iliad Group has posted solid year-end results, with subscribers and revenues up significantly during what the company characterised as “a year of exceptional growth”.

The performance inspired Xavier Niel’s group, which is expanding internationally, to target revenues of €10 billion this year with the aim of becoming Europe’s fifth largest telco.

Consolidated revenues rose 10.4%1 to €9.24 billion in 2023, and 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated EBITDAaL was up 4.2% or 2.1% on a like-for-like basis, boosted by the group’s performance in France.

In France, revenues were up 9.9% in the fourth quarter, passing the €6 billion milestone for the first time.

In Italy, revenues advanced by 14.5% over the full year and by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, passing the €1 billion mark.

Poland’s revenues (in euros) grew 13.1% for the year as a whole to €2.2 billion and 10.2% in the fourth quarter, though by considerably less on a like-for-like basis – 4% and 3% respectively.

In France, flagship operator Free gained 787,000 net new mobile subscribers during the year, including 213,000 in the fourth quarter, and 234,000 net new broadband and ultra-fast broadband subscribers, of which 858,000 were new fibre subscribers, including 100,000 in the fourth quarter.

In Italy, iliad Italia added 1.16 million net new mobile subscribers (including 255,000 in the fourth quarter), allowing it to pass the 10 million mark less than six years after it was launched.

The company was also the leader in fixed net additions for the second year in a row, out of Italy’s top five telcos, adding 98,000 new subscribers during the year, with the pace of growth accelerating in the fourth quarter to 35,000 net adds.

In Poland, local subsidiary Play added 336,000 net new mobile subscribers, taking its total to over 13 million, and 122,000 fixed customers, including 38,000 in Q4. Play had 13.1 million mobile customers at year-end, and over two million fixed subscribers.

“Iliad went all out to win in 2023, gaining strong market share in France, Italy and Poland. The Group also transformed itself during the year, in particular by investing massively in artificial intelligence, the Cloud and connectivity for businesses. We consolidated our robust financial position, enabling us to sign an agreement to become the main shareholder7 of Tele2 in early 2024 and to extend our geographic reach to eight countries. And we intend to stay on the winning track, as we’re aiming to become Europe’s fifth largest telco this year,” said CEO Thomas Reynaud.