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Posted on 29 Jan 2002 at 15:10

Orange claims it is now the UK's 'largest operator in terms of active customers'.

According to its latest figures, its UK customer base has increased by 2.6 million to 12.4 million, making it the market leader and snatching Vodafone's crown.

Orange Group increased its entire customer base by 29 per cent year on year, up 8.8 million to 39.3 million. But as more people own a handset, there are less potential new customers around, making it increasingly important for mobile operators to squeeze more money out of each one. Operators no longer have the same appetite for subsidising the cost of handsets for Pay-As-You-Go and consequentially prices has risen dramatically. The push towards contracted users saw a 39 per cent growth in recurring network revenues to ´4,590m (£2,824).

Orange's Rolling Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) grew over the previous quarter, although the yearly ARPU fell to £246 from £280 in the UK. However the ARPU for Orange's contract customer base grew five per cent over the year from £525 to £550.

See Orange for more details.

Author: Matt Whipp