France Telecom - France Telecom, world number two for ADSL at the end of the first half of 2005 according to Dataxis (1)

France Telecom, world number two for ADSL at the end of the first half of 2005 according to Dataxis (1)
Paris, December 20, 2005
Strong growth driven by a proactive investment policy and the Group's extensive European coverage.
Ranking second behind China Telecom and ahead of SBC, France Telecom has now moved ahead of the leading US and Japanese players on the ADSL market, as well as its European rivals.
These results confirm France Telecom's dynamic ADSL business. Indeed, with operations in France, Poland, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands, France Telecom has achieved an 87% increase in its ADSL customer base in Europe over the last 12 months.
Ranking 9th in June 2003, then 4th in June 2004, France Telecom steadily worked its way up to reach 2nd place in June 2005.
France Telecom's climb up the ranking of international operators drawn up by Dataxis is down to the following:
Major investments in France on both networks and the development of new services. Indeed, France Telecom is set to invest over 3 billion euros between 2005 and 2007 on developing and optimizing its network, including 1 billion euros on the deployment of broadband networks throughout France. This effort, combined with a strong commitment by local partners, is contributing to the nationwide deployment of the broadband network in France, paving the way for 96% of the population to be eligible for ADSL lines by the end of 2005 and 98% by the end of 2006. Since June 2004, France Telecom has launched a number of new services based on ADSL and Livebox (1 million Livebox subscribers in October 2005) for users, including Voice over IP, digital television (packages offered by TPS and CanalSat), videophony and Liveservices (Livezoom, Livemusic, photo transfers, etc.).
France Telecom has also invested in networks in Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK and launched a range of new broadband Internet services at competitive prices. The Livebox is being sold in Spain (since February 2005), Poland (since December 15, 2005), the Netherlands (March 2005) and the UK (July 2004). In these last two countries, France Telecom is a pioneer thanks to its combined Voice over IP and ADSL offering. In Spain, in 2004, France Telecom was the first operator to offer a dual play solution (ADSL and preselected telephone calling), which has now become the standard on the Spanish market.
This ranking confirms the success of the policy to focus on developing broadband uses, notably with Livebox for both home and business users. France Telecom is pursuing moves to implement its integrated operator business model in line with the NExT(2) plan, aiming to become the operator of choice for new telecommunications services in Europe.
(1) Dataxis is an international market research consultancy (2) NexT: New Experience in Telecommunications
Concerning France Telecom France Telecom, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators, serves 130 million clients on five continents (220 countries or territories) as of September 30, 2005 and had consolidated sales of 47.16 billion Euros in 2004 by French accounting standards (46.16 billion Euros by IFRS standards). For the 3rd quarter 2005, consolidated sales were 12.26 billion Euros by IFRS standards. Introduced in June 2005, the transformative NExT program (New Experience in Telecommunications) will permit the Group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator and to establish it as the operator of reference for new telecommunications services in Europe. By 2008, its customers will have access to a universe of enhanced and simplified communications services notably through the Orange brand. Number two mobile operator and provider of internet services in Europe and amongst the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multi-national companies, France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.