Future is Orange for 2m more

ORANGE added 2.1 million new customers in the first six months of the year as its revenues rose by 13.8% to e8.1bn (£5.1bn), making it the main driver behind a 10% rise in sales at it heavily-indebted parent company France Telecom.

Graham Howe, chief operating officer of the mobile phones operator, said: 'Customer growth remains buoyant, particularly as we rolled the Orange brand out across all countries. We have also had two successive quarters of increasing revenues per customer in the UK, and the trends in France show that it will soon turn the corner.'

In its two largest markets, Orange added 415,000 customers in the UK and 802,000 in France.

France Telecom moved to cut its debts of more than e60bn by e1.6bn through the sale of a 65% stake in TDF (Telediffusion de France), its radio and TV broadcasting business, mainly to Charterhouse Development Capital, the owner of Madame Tussaud's.

First half revenues rose by 10% and France Telecom said it expected to achieve double-digit growth in the second half.