In the UK, Orange added a record 1.56 million net new customers in the fourth quarter, beating its previous record of 1.41 million net new customers in Q4 1999. With almost 5 million net new customers added in the last 12 months, the total UK customer base now stands at 9.83 million, more than twice that of the same point last year.
Around 90% of the growth in the quarter was owing to prepay customers, which Orange believes reflects the value and originality of the Orange JustTalk products. The prepay base ended the year at 6.758 million.
Orange also continued to make progress in the contract sector adding 111,000 net new customers onto subscription tariffs. The contract base was 3.077 million at the year end.
Orange France added 1.73 million net new customers, taking the customer base to 14.3 million and its share of net additions in the quarter was almost 50%.
