Paris, 28 April 2005

Orange today reported its first quarter results for 2005 as part of the France Telecom Group. The results indicate that customer numbers and revenues have seen a steady increase, although revenues in the UK and France have been affected by recent cuts in call termination rates.

Total customer numbers for the period were 54.6 million, representing an increase of 11.1% compared with the same period last year (up from 49.2 million on a pro forma basis*). In total, over a million new customers were added during the quarter.

While all regions saw customer numbers increase, growth was driven by our Rest of World operations, where the total base increased by 26.7% to 19.0 million (up from 15.0 million). Within this Romania, Egypt and African operations showed particularly strong growth. Meanwhile, Orange France customer numbers increased by 4.6% to 21.3 million, and Orange UK customers increased by 3.7% to 14.3 million.

Total revenues for the period were 4.88 billion euros, representing an increase of 4.6% compared with the same period last year (up from 4.66 billion euros on a pro forma basis). Once again, our Rest of World operations showed strong growth with a 12.9% increase in revenues, again led by Romania, African operations and Egypt.

Meanwhile, revenues in both the UK and France have been affected by the recent cuts in call termination rates. In the UK, underlying revenue growth of 4% was converted to a drop in revenues of 2.4% compared with the same period last year, due to cuts in call termination rates in operation since 1 September 2004.

In France, termination rate cuts have been in operation since 1 January 2005, but have already resulted in the underlying growth in revenues of 6.6% reducing to a 5.2% increase.

Commenting on these results, Orange CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said, "Our results for the first quarter have been led by strong performances in our Rest of World operations. Revenue growth in the UK and France is impacted by call termination rate cuts. In the UK we are continuing with our turnaround plan. Meanwhile many of our international businesses have exceeded our expectations."

* on pro forma basis - 2004 figures have been recalculated to give an accurate comparison between the two periods. This is necessary because Orange Denmark and Orange Ivory Coast are no longer included in the group results, the former business having been sold and the latter business now reporting directly to France Telecom Group International. Meanwhile, the results for Voxtel, France Telecom Group's mobile business in Moldova, are now included in Orange group results.

For more information download the France Telecom Group press release