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Orange Takes The No.2 Spot In The UK Telecoms Market

Orange Takes The No.2 Spot In The UK Telecoms Market

Debt-laden British Telecom (see Forecasts) was facing another blow today as it was usurped by Orange as the UK’s second largest mobile telephone operator. In the three months to June 2001, Orange added 830,000 new subscriber base taking its total to 11.9 million. In March the companies both had around 11 million subscribers but BT have failed where Orange succeeded and have effectively lost 118,000 subscribers in the past six months.

Currently BT is in the process of de-merging its mobile arm, BT Wireless, which will trade alongside the existing company on the LSE, in an attempt to reduce its debts, now estimated at £30 million.

Despite Orange’s efforts, the figures represent a slowdown in the UK telecoms market. In Q1 2001 Cellnet added 918,000 new subscribers whilst Orange added 1.2 million. Recently market leader Vodafone revealed that it had attracted only 269,000 customers in the March-June period which compares badly to the 620,000 in the previous three months.

The decline appears to stem from a drop in pre-pay customers who have fallen in numbers for all the mobile operators. Vodafone’s pre-pay base is down from 74% of new subscribers to 56% while Orange pre-pay customers account for 73% of new business, down from 93% in Q1.

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