registration document France Telecom 2009 - Orange.com

6 OVERVIEW
overview of the group’s business
OF BUSINESS
Poland
The total number of lines served by TP Group decreased in
2009 by 558,000, a -6.3% decline compared with 2008. This
erosion was a result of a fall of 924,000 in retail lines (-11.6%
year-on-year), partially offset by an increase in wholesale line
rental and unbundled lines (+38.9%).
TP Group is trying to limit further erosion of its retail subscriber
base through active sales of new tariff plans , sales of value
added services and increasing sales of broadband Internet .
TP Group lifted the entry barrier for new customers by reducing
the fi xed-line activation fee to 1 zloty in a promotional campaign.
In addition, 12-month/24-month contracts were introduced
to increase the loyalty of existing customers s ubscription
discounts, up-to-date handsets or shopping vouchers are also
offered to customers to increase their loyalty. These initiatives
resulted in limiting traffi c market share erosion in all traffi c types.
Broadband Access
In 2009, TP Group continued to pursue its strategy of
compensating lower revenues from fi xed-line voice services with
growth in broadband Internet access services. In this area, and
given that almost 100% of TP Group’s fi xed-line subscribers
were located in an area covered by xDSL at the end of 2009,
the growth potential is good.
The total number of broadband lines increased by 6.3% yearon-year
and revenues by 9.1%. At the same time, increasing
penetration of broadband led to a decline of 51.7% in
narrowband Internet revenues.
Broadband average revenue per customer (ARPU) in the
consumer market increased by 4% year-on-year.
This was a result of TP Group’s activity promoting options
requiring more bandwidth, cutting-edge access terminals and
packages including TV service, and longer contracts with
preferential conditions other than access fee reductions.
In 2009 the trend was still for increased bandwidth in
broadband lines subscribed to by customers, supported by TP
Group’s marketing initiatives which lowered the price of higher
bandwidth.
Facing a very competitive environment and an economic
slowdown, TP Group remained the innovative leader TP Group
continued to promote very popular bundle offers of broadband
service plus digital TV, offered in both xDSL and DTH (satellite
digital TV) technologies, which were accompanied by an
extensive content offer.
Business Market
To meet the expectations of both small to medium enterprises
and large, complex corporations, TP Group’s business portfolio
includes providing, installing, confi guring, management and
monitoring of equipment, providing software applications and
consulting.
In 2009, TP Group further expanded its data transmission
portfolio, particularly In respect of network administration
outsourcing services which are increasingly being customized.
TP Group has also focused on the security of its services in
order to guarantee high level data protection to its customers.
2009 saw a rapid development of business-dedicated IP VPN
solutions. The service take-up was particularly high among
large corporations and was also increasingly popular among
medium-sized enterprises from various industries.
As in previous years, TP Group’s digital data transmission
and Internet access (DSL) offers continued to be very popular
in the SME segment and 2009 saw a substantial increase in
subscriptions. Business customers are willing to sign up for
this service which generally costs more than consumer Internet
access offers and the aftermath of the economic crisis did not
affect its growth.
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2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / FRANCE TELECOM