Orange has revealed that eCAPEX fell 0.7 percent to less than 7.4 billion euros, in line with the target, due to fiber roll-out in France reaching maturity.

In 2023, Orange aims to achieve the targets: slight growth in EBITDAaL, significant reduction in Capex, Organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least 3.5 billion euros and Net debt/EBITDAaL ratio for telecom activities unchanged at around 2x in the medium term.

eCAPEX decreased by almost 10 percent in 2022 due to the advanced stage of fiber deployment in France, where 33.5 million households are now connectable, and due to the slower pace of customer connections compared with 2021.

Orange said revenues for 2022 climbed 0.6 percent due to strong growth in Africa & Middle East (+6.4 percent) and the solid performance of retail services (+2 percent), boosted by price increases introduced in each of the Group’s European countries.

Orange said EBITDAaL reached almost 13 billion euros, rising 2.5 percent in line with the target, thanks to cost discipline. The robust performance of Africa & Middle East (+11.3 percent) fully offset the sharp decline in Enterprise (–18.8 percent). Europe grew 1.6 percent thanks to the recovery in Spain.

EBITDAaL rose significantly in the fourth quarter (+8.5 percent) as a result of price increases achieved in Europe and a base effect linked to the 2021 employee shareholding plan. Excluding this base effect, EBITDAaL grew 2.9 percent.

Orange said operating income of 4,801 million euros was 2,280 million euros higher held back by the impairment of Romania. Orange’s net income totaled 2,617 million euros, compared with 778 million euros in 2021.

Christel Heydemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group, said: “The Africa and Middle East region has delivered excellent results, with a notable performance from Orange Money in the fourth quarter which succeeded in repositioning itself in a competitive market.”