Turnover of Orange up almost 40%

Mobile telephony operator Orange Romania, 96.8% owned by France Telecom reported an 870 million-euro turnover for the 2005 financial year. The company saw a 39.2% turnover growth as compared to 2004, when it registered 625 million euros in revenues, said Richard Moat, chief executive of Orange Romania. The mobile telephony services operator has managed to maintain the steady growth pace it has seen of late, 40%, in terms of numbers of customers, as well. As opposed to the end of 2004, when the company totalled 4.9 million, at the end of this year it reported that their customer base was up 38.2%, that is 7 million users. Company officials had estimated at the end of last year that they would reach 6 million customers, but they exceeded this figure during the second half of August. The company”s turnover topped their previous estimates (770 million euros) by 100 million euros. ZF