French operator Iliad has posted revenues of EUR3.15 billion (USD4.1 billion) for 2012, up 49% year-on-year following the recruitment of 5.21 million mobile customers to a wireless service it launched on 10 January 2012. Despite the company’s wireless operations being less than a year old, they already account for more than a quarter of the group’s sales. Even more impressively, during the fourth quarter of 2012, Iliad’s 800,000 net wireless additions represented a 67% share of the entire country’s new subscribers during that period, according to data from French telecoms regulator Arcep. Iliad also added 515,000 broadband subscribers in 2012, to lift its total broadband subscriber base to 5.364 million, of which 94.1% are using unbundled lines, up from 92.2% a year ago.
Meanwhile, Iliad’s deputy CEO Thomas Reynaud denied speculation that the company could merge its wireless unit with a rival mobile operator. ‘In 2012, we reported sales growth of nearly 50 percent, which shows that we have no need for an external deal to bring growth,’ the executive said on a conference call. ‘It’s not on the agenda. What counts for us is to win fixed line and mobile market share, to install over the long term and to use our networks.’