France Telecom's revenue down in Q3

Revenue of France Telecom, the state-owned telecom operator, fell slightly by 0.5 percent during the third quarter this year compared to the same period in 2010, the company said on Thursday. For the July-September period, France Telecom revenue totaled 11.28 billion euros (15.81 billion U.S. dollars) excluding the impact of regulatory measures on "downturn in mobile device sales." In France, growth in the number of contract customers and data services helped the local operator to expand mobile services revenue by 3.7 percent excluding device sales, it said in its quarterly financial report. The government-run operator saw its total revenue in the European bloc inching up by 0.5 percent as dim performance of eastern countries overshadowed strong dynamism registered in the Spanish market where the operator services grew by 7.4 percent. As to Africa and the Middle East markets, the value of revenue rose by 4.5 percent despite a complex situation in Egypt which suffers from persistent political unrest and financial instability. During the first nine months of the year, France Telecom posted stable revenue at 33.85 billion euros (47.45 billion dollars). It numbered 221 million customers at the end of September, up 6.3 percent year-on-year due to buoyant mobile services in emerging markets. As a result, the French group is "in a position to raise its 2011 operating cash flow target to slightly more than 9 billion euros (12.62 billion dollars)."