Orange sees football boost strong pay TV and convergence growth in Spain

Orange’s TV base in Spain, where its distribution of premium football services to which Telefónica holds the principal rights has benefited it at the expense of Vodafone, grew 14.5% in the year to December, taking its local TV total to 716,000.

Orange’s fibre broadband base in the country grew by 27.6% over the year to 2.9 million, while the operator’s overall Spanish customers base increased by 19,000 in Q4, boosted both by football and by its success in selling fibre access. Convergent customers were up 1.1% to 3.1 million.

Orange España had less success in mobile, where intense competition at the lower end of the market saw its contract mobile sales dip in Q4.

Overall, Orange had 9.553 million TV customers at the end of the year, up from 9.008 million a year earlier. In France, the operator’s TV base rose from 6.861 million to 7.043 million.

Elsewhere in Europe, Orange’s TV base rose from 1.522 million to 1.794 million. In Poland, it ended the year with 943,000 TV customers, up from 848,000 a year earlier. In Belgium and Luxembourg, Orange had 184,000 TV customers, up from 107,000.