Revenue growth for French telecoms operators remained in positive territory for a second consecutive quarter in the three months to March, according to Arcep. Overall revenue growth was 0.3 percent year-on-year (+ 0.5% in Q4) when including various non-telecom revenues such as equipment sales, with growth improving to 0.7 percent excluding them.
As in the previous quarter, mobile service revenues showed the best progression, growing by 3.0 percent year-on-year (+1.8% in Q4) to reach EUR 3.58 billion, while overall fixed revenues declined by 0.4 percent (-0.1% in Q4) to EUR 4.28 billion. Growth in value-added service revenues and non-telecom revenues was in negative territory for both sectors, with a drop of 9.8 and 3.4 percent respectively.
In the first quarter, the average monthly mobile bill was EUR 16.20 (excluding VAT) when including postpaid and prepaid plans, compared with EUR 16.40 in the previous quarter and EUR 16.00 a year earlier. In the fixed-line sector, the average bill for voice and broadband services was EUR 32.50, fractionally up from a year earlier (EUR 32.40).
Commenting on the key trends shaping the market, Arcep highlighted the ongoing migration to faster fixed broadband services and the sustained growth in LTE connections, which made up 46 percent of total SIMs at end-March. LTE data usage accounted for 90 percent of the total traffic on 2G/3G/4G networks, up by 10 percentage points since Q1 2016. After the first annual drop in the number of SMS during the fourth quarter, the regulator said that the decline progressed further in the first quarter, with a year-on-year drop of 5.1 percent (-4.7% in Q4).
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