I suggest that we start. Okay, good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the presentation of the results of the first half of 2024. Let me first apologize for the issues that we have with the bridge, which is due to the global outage of Microsoft Cloud. That's why we are doing it now via this Zoom conference call. We will first start with the presentation, the Q&A that will follow after. You can indicate via the chat that you have a question, and then we will point you to ask your question. I will now hand over to Xavier for the introductory statement.
Thanks, Koen. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, for the presentation of these results of the first semester of 2024. Let's go now into section one, where we'll highlight the main moments of the semester within our strategic goal, Lead the Future. Slide four. So one of the major moments this quarter was Nethys's strategic decision to exchange its shares in VOO for Orange Belgium shares. This transaction has positioned Nethys as a shareholder of Orange Belgium with a notable 11.1% stake in the company. As a result of this exchange, VOO has now become a fully owned subsidiary of Orange Belgium. This consideration not only strengthens our position in the market, but also sets the stage for enhanced synergies and operational efficiencies within our organization. Slide five. On this slide, so we want to share a significant milestone we had this semester. We passed this semester.
Orange Belgium has probably become the first telecom provider in Belgium to offer a nationwide gigabit network. This achievement comes six months ahead of our initial schedule, thanks to the dedication and hard work that has been done by our team and strategic partnerships. In June 2023, we launched our ambitious lead the future strategy, aiming to provide all Belgians with one gigabit coverage by mid-2024. Through our long-term agreement with Wyre, the joint venture between Telenet and Fluvius, and the accelerated modernization of VOO HFC's network, we have surpassed our goal, and since the beginning of the year, we can now offer this high-speed connectivity to 95% of Belgian households. Our efforts have positioned Belgium among the leading countries in Europe for gigabit connectivity, aligning with the European Union's Digital Decade Program, which targets one gigabit connectivity for all by 2030.
By democratizing access to the fixed gigabit internet, we are significantly contributing to Belgium's digital advancement. Slide six. On this slide, we'd like to update on our progress as we continue to lead the future and deliver on our strategic goals for 2024. Our efforts are concentrated in three main areas, the one you can see on the slide. First one, multi-gigabit network leadership. Pillar number two, customer experience excellence. And then pillar number number, a commitment to people and ESG values. Firstly, how future is defined by an understanding multi-gigabit network leadership. As said earlier, Orange Belgium has taken the leadership in a nationwide gigabit network provider. We have made significant improvements in 5G coverage as well, modernized our HFC network, and we are set to launch our fiber proof of concept.
Secondly, our future is shaped by a commitment to customer excellence experience, where we manage a multi-segmented ecosystem and approach. We have launched a new range of mobile subscriptions catering to the entire family, introducing new portfolios for Orange, hey!, and VOO. Moreover, our pact for WBCC, the call center of VOO with Orange customer, has been a success. This initiative is a testament to our promise that Orange is here to provide unparalleled customer experiences. Lastly, we care deeply for our people and our commitment to being a resilient, modern, and responsible company with strong human and ESG values. We have expanded our refurbishment efforts, ensuring sustainability remains a core focus. Additionally, we have supported BuD-IT, the Belgium No-Code Startup Program, fostering innovation and growth in our community.
In summary, Orange Belgium is on track to achieve our 2024 strategy, leading with advanced network solutions, exceptional customer service, and a robust commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Now, I'll let Antoine comment the section two. Thanks, Antoine.
Thank you, Xavier, and hello, everyone. I'm pleased to share our results with you today. Let's take a look at our main achievement for this semester on slide eight. On a comparable basis, we've reached a very nice 4.5% increase of our mobile and cable customer base, which means that we continue to increase our market shares on both mobile and broadband. Let me also highlight we've achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 1 million cable customers in Q2. This underscores our strong market presence and the growing demand for our broadband services. When it comes to the financial results, I want to highlight our solid revenue growth, 2.5%, and our remarkable 14% EBITDA increase year-on-year. This growth in EBITDA is the result of the successful implementation of synergies, notably the migration of MVNO customers of VOO to the Orange network.
Additionally, we had some successful litigation and some positive seasonal effects this semester. Lastly, our eCAPEX, excluding license fees, has increased by 7% year-on-year. This investment is crucial for our continued growth and technological advancements, particularly in our mobile network through RAN sharing and 5G, as well as in our fixed network through HFC upgrade and the start of our FTTH program. In summary, the first half of 2024 has been a period of solid growth and very strong EBITDA performance for Orange Belgium. Let's turn and deep dive on slide nine on our key metrics for our cable and mobile postpaid customer base and net additions for the first half of 2024. Starting with our cable customers, we've added 18,000 new cable customers in H1. This consistent growth highlights our ability to attract and retain customers in a competitive market.
Moving on to our postpaid mobile customers, we've also seen a steady growth. As of H1 2024, we've reached 3.4 million postpaid customers. This reflects our strong performance and successful strategies in the convergence and mobile segment. Regarding net addition in the postpaid mobile segment, we've added 74,000 new postpaid mobile customers in H1. This growth is a result following the progressive activation of the Flemish Government service contract. And it's also important to note that VOO figures have been included as of H2 2023, which has contributed to the significant increase also in our customer base and net additions. So in summary, H1 has been a period of robust growth for both our cable and mobile postpaid customer bases. We continue to attract new customers, reinforcing our leadership in this market.
On slide 10, let's take a closer look at the comparable revenues evolution for the first half of 2024. Our total revenues have grown by 2.5% year-on-year, reaching EUR 977 million. This growth is mainly driven by an increase in retail service revenues. More specifically, convergent service revenues contributed an additional EUR 31.7 million. However, this growth has been tempered by a decrease in mobile-only services and fixed and IT services, which saw a decline of EUR 5.6 million and EUR 1.2 million, respectively. We've also seen a decline in wholesale revenues, which does not impact our margin. And on a more positive note, equipment sales and other revenues have increased, contributing an additional EUR 5.6 million to our revenues. In summary, our revenue growth in H1 is a testament to our effective strategy and strong market position.
We continue to see positive trends in our core service areas, driving our financial performance. Let's now turn our attention to the comparable EBITDA evolution for the first half of 2024, as shown on slide 11. Our EBITDA has seen an important increase, growing by almost 14% year-on-year on the comparable basis. This increase is, as already said, mainly due to service revenue growth and the strong contribution from synergies, and especially the migration of VOO customers to Orange network, and some positive one-off. On a comparable basis, revenues have contributed an additional EUR 24 million to our EBITDA, reflecting our strong financial performance and effective revenue generation strategies. Direct costs increased by EUR 5.8 million, mainly because of increasing volumes, and labor costs have remained relatively stable with a slight increase of EUR 0.2 million, indicating effective workforce management.
Indirect costs have been well controlled with a modest increase of EUR 1 million, demonstrating our commitment to operational efficiency. On slide 12, let's now take a look at the comparable ECAPEX evolution for H1. Our ECAPEX grew by 7%, reaching EUR 180 million. This is mainly due to our ambitious network deployment, both in the mobile and fixed. The mobile network, we've been investing in RAN sharing and 5G technology to enhance our network coverage and capacity. These investments are crucial for maintaining our competitive edge and meeting the growing demand for high-speed mobile connectivity. In the fixed segment, our focus has been on upgrading our HFC infrastructure to support higher data speed and improved service availability, and start our FTTH program. The 7.2% increase in ECAPEX reflects our commitment to investing in our network infrastructure.
This investment is laying a solid foundation for future growth and ensuring that we continue to deliver high-quality services to our customers. Let's now review our guidance for 2024, as outlined on slide 14. Our updated guidance for EBITDA is now set to slightly exceed EUR 535 million, which is an improvement from our previous range of EUR 515 million-EUR 535 million. This upward revision reflects our confidence in achieving strong operational performance and realizing further synergies. In terms of ECAPEX, our target remains the same, between EUR 365 million and EUR 385 million, excluding the payment of license fees. This investment will primarily focus on our deployment plans, both in the mobile and fixed, ensuring we continue to provide high-quality services and meet the growing demand for connectivity.
In summary, our updated 2024 guidance underscores our commitment to delivering robust financial performance while making strategic investments in our network infrastructure. We are confident that this target will position us well for sustainable growth and value creation. With this, I conclude the presentation, and we are more than happy to answer your questions.
If you have any questions, as said earlier, you can indicate that in the chat. For now, we have a question from David Vagman from ING.
I can start answering your question, and I'll let Xavier complete with it. First, on your question regarding the full-year EBITDA guidance, what I can tell you, when we talk about positive litigation, it accounts for around EUR 3 million for the semester, and we have some year-on-year seasonal effects, and especially due to high energy prices that we had last year in H1 and that were much lower in H2, that account for around EUR 5 million, between EUR 5 million and EUR 10 million. That's what I can tell you. And we also have, as you know, the impact in H2, even if it should come in back to school of the new entrants in the market. So that's why all in all, our EBITDA performance should be a bit lower in H2 compared with the one we achieved in posted in H1.
That's why all in all, we expect an EBITDA growth for the full year a bit below 10%, which is in line with the new guidance we just issued. I don't know if it answered your question for the first point. For your third question on postpaid, what I can tell you is that the Flemish Government SIM card activations account for around 45,000 SIM cards in H1. So it's a clear booster of our commercial dynamic in mobile, as we explained. But even without this contribution of this large B2B contract, we are also quite satisfied with our mobile performance over the semester.
For your question regarding CAPEX, as you said, we now have gigabit availability all over the country, but we still have some cable upgrades, especially in rural areas where we benefit from subsidies from the regional and federal government in areas where we had cable, but unidirectional cable, which meant only with TV offers and not with broadband. We upgrade this cable to be able to offer gigabit broadband services. So that's part of the explanation of the increase of cable upgrade, even if we finalize the gigabit approach. We also start our FTTH deployment in the more dense areas of Belgium. We started also some RAN sharing with the utilities when it's relevant for us, given our FTTH rollout plan. So that will also justify an increase of our ECAPEX.
Yeah. Yeah, David. Hello, David. Yes, on the commercial performance. So first, I think we do have also, like all years, a kind of seasonality effect compared to H1 to H2. When we look for, I would say, look back on maybe the one or two previous years that were exactly the same train, and it is the same train, but not exactly the same absolute numbers, as you said. Looking at the market, maybe this is something that will change a little bit. I think the fact that now the market would move from a growth, I would say, to a churn market, especially linked to the starting of the admission market this year and last year in H2, maybe would have some effect. I think we suffered a little bit from a higher churn in Q1 that has been sold in Q2.
But looking back on the net asset market share we've had in Q1, of course, we can't say that for Q2 so far, but looking back on Q1, we've been able to reach more than 60% net asset market share in Q1. So the absolute number is a bit deceptive, you're right, but the net asset market share is largely positive with our 60%. And this is something, of course, we aim to do and to, I would say, regain for the next quarter.
Okay, then we have a question from Nicolas Cote-Colisson from HSBC.
No, no, no, it's nationwide. Antoine, maybe I will take the first one on the network, mobile network, sorry. So that's a very interesting question, Nicolas, because we know that for, I would say, other countries that have given some national roaming or itinerance contract to new entrants, newcomers. So this is something, of course, that would be interesting for them at the beginning because, of course, they will have some nationwide coverage and so on. But we don't know actually the condition. We don't know which techno has been sold, which price, etc. So I think that compared to a new entrant, on the Proximus network, we'll compete as we are currently doing with Proximus, of course, theoretically, because we don't know the contract. We don't know whether they will have every band, every techno guaranteed by the contract.
But compared to their own, I would say, rollout, of course, it will be very something that will be in a positive way. So it depends on how their national roaming contract and on what techno they will have access to, of course. So we said that during the, I would say, the presentation, but in our first PR, so we need to, and we aim to lead the network experience, both on fixed and mobile. So we've done that on the fixed thanks to the gigabit nationwide, reaching 99% of the population on the mobile. So we, I would say, have this RAN-sharing operation moving forward. We passed more than 50% of this, let's say, very important work.
Of course, we are, I would say, accelerating a little bit on the 5G coverage as well, as we passed also 40%, and we aim to increase this number by the end of the year.
Maybe on your second question, Nicolas, and thanks for that regarding convergent. Precisely, frankly, it's not a matter of concern to us because it's mainly due to a mix effect and to lower clients, less clients with our TV offers because of cord cutting, because of all this well-known effect. But it's not a big deal. So it has an impact on revenue for sure, but it's not a big deal when it comes to margin because we have quite competitive offers for TV. But the margin on these offers is a bit lower. So the RPU decrease is not fully translated into EBITDA. And we have, to offset part of this effect, a positive impact of our price increase in general on our convergent packs. So it holds, and that's translated fully into EBITDA.
Okay, yeah, thanks. That makes sense. Just a short follow-up on the network speed on the cable network. I just wonder what is the uptake on the higher speeds, what are the proportions of clients on higher speed tiers, and how do you manage the upsell opportunity?
I think not so sure that we are communicating the mix. What we can say is that we are very, very satisfied with the mix that has been, I would say, taken and granted by the customer since we launched this option. And of course, we do have some mixed positive effect on the RPU as well. But sorry, Nicolas, we won't communicate the precise and the specific number on that.
Okay. No worries. Thank you.
But we are happy with that.
Thank you.
If there are any more questions, please raise your hand or indicate it in the chat.
Nicolas can carry on.
Yeah. I was leaving a bit of room to my colleagues. So maybe an update on the fiber plans and discussions with BIPT. I know you can't tell very much on what's happening behind the doors, but eventually, we haven't heard very much in the last couple of months. So yeah, any information would be great.
On fiber, so on fiber, you mean?
Yes, yes.
Yeah. So first, you aware that in Belgium, there are some, I would say, public constraints that have raised for the market because some inhabitants' complaints about the way that the rollout made by the current telcos is not respecting the rules. So we are having some, I would say, discussion with the public authorities and the regulators as well. So even if we have not started to do so, this is something that will come up in 2025. So we've made some proposals to either the BIPT and the public authorities to make sure that all the rollout that will be completed in the coming months, quarters, and years will be done according to the rules. You know that we know this topic, of course. Orange has a whole, mainly Europe and France and Poland as well. So we know exactly what happened in this country.
So this is something Orange wants to do very, very gently. And this is why we made some very interesting proposals to make sure that this is something that really creates a positive ecosystem to every stakeholder, of course, including the inhabitants. On the plan, on the operational plan, so we are at the moment, we do have one or two parks testing a lot of things on the technical matters, on the equipment, on the active equipment, on the customer equipment as well. And we will start in 2025 in certain areas. And this is something, of course, we will manage coping with HFC 1G gigabit to make sure that we need a future in terms of gigabit network space for all the customers. So this is something that will start in 2025.
Okay, so that starts in 2025. But what about the ongoing discussions with your competitors to organize at the national level or maybe regional level?
I think you know that. I think we said that for now years. I think Antoine and I, we are not there when it started. So we'll do things very, very pragmatically, thinking, of course, of every stakeholder, including shareholders as well. We do have HFC 1G everywhere nationwide. So actually, basically, we don't need at the moment on a short-term basis to get some, I would say, FTTP network. This is something that has been, I would say, put on the table on the regional area and then local area. So we will be very, very pragmatic. And each time we think, of course, overbuild could be avoided, we'll do so, of course. But it depends on the current negotiation we have. And actually, we have no, I would say, breaking news on that side. These discussions are, I would say, continuing.
But there is no, I would say, new or fresh info, sorry, to give to you because this is something that is on a rolling, I would say, on a ring agenda, ring calendar. So maybe we'll have some fresh news in H2. We'll see. We are strongly, I would say, supported by the authorities, including BCA and BIPT on that side. But we know that these things take time. And we'll see that afterwards.
Okay. I don't know how much you can say about Telenet coming into Wallonia, if anything.
We can't say, I would say, of course, anything that would give. Of course, we are now a wholesale provider in the south. So of course, they will benefit from our gigabit as well since, I guess, early June. So we wish them the best. And of course, it's interesting for us because now we will have some wholesale revenue on the fixed HFC network combining with our retail positioning. That's something that will be equitable, of course, on the P&L and on the EBITDA ratio as well.
Okay. Well, thank you so much.
Thanks, Nicolas.
I have a few more if there is no other question.
Sure, sure. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. So yeah, on the mobile-only revenues, they were slightly down, I think, despite the price increase, if you can come back on that. And then another point on the cooperation agreement, and I realize you cannot say too much, but can you say whether the BIPT and the BCA are looking at it a bit in a technological agnostic way? So not just looking at fiber, but also HFC, etc., as you alluded to some extent. Thank you.
Maybe I would take the question number 2 on BIPT, as you said. So we know that this is something, I would say, that is now on everyone's table, I guess, because, as I said, there are some inhabitants that are complaining on several cables on the façade and then maybe some health permits that have not been granted prior to the works.
So this is something that we collectively need to fix, of course. And then on that side, we as Orange have made some specific proposals to either BIPT and also the BCA, notably in Brussels. So we are, I would say, intending to play a role on that side because, of course, we are preparing 2025, but we'd like that new FTTP network would be seen as a major advantage for customers and not, I would say, as a pain point. On the, I would say, cable/FTTP position, as we said, so we were, I would say, the first one to get this nationwide 1G proposal. It has been seen very interestingly. As Antoine said, we continue to receive some subsidies to extend and modernize the HFC network.
So we see the country having, honestly, a very, very, I would say, solid HFC network with huge new capabilities, capacities, and reliability. So this is something that will be maybe sufficient for, I would say, 5-10 years. And then on top of that, as we said, we are aiming to roll out and to overbuild our HFC network by 2024 on, I would say, two-thirds of the network. So I think we are supported by the authority on that side. They want to get on the digital inclusion, good connectivity, good, I would say, high-bandwidth connectivity, and 1G is sufficient for that. And then when we think that it's going to be something very equitable for everyone, including the shareholders, okay, we will, of course, roll out FTTP and then benefit from potential agreements with peers.
So we are playing, I would say, on both sides on the network experience, HFC and FTTP. And I think we are largely supported by every, I would say, stakeholder on this policy. It's a very pragmatic one, actually. We are deeply pragmatic on that topic. I'll take the second question on the evolution of mobile-only revenues. In fact, the price increase with an impact on H1 is only the one we had in GEN, and it didn't impact mobile-only customers. It was only a price increase on our convergent packs. That's why you don't have any positive effect of pricing year-over-year when it comes to mobile-only.
Okay, thanks. Thanks, Antoine.
We have another question from André Tragolti from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you very much. Just a question maybe on the midterm, given your gigabit network and the targeted deployment on FTTH, can we assume that your CapEx envelope will remain more or less stable in the coming years, or do you see it going up on these deployments? Thanks.
Thanks, André, for this question. We don't give any CapEx guidance for the medium term, so I can't answer your question in detail. What's for sure is that you know that fiber rollout is quite expensive in Belgium. And so it's much more expensive to roll out fibers than to upgrade cables, so it will necessarily have an impact on our CapEx. That being said, we will also have some savings from 2026 because of the end of the RAN sharing, and most of the rollout of 5G will be behind us. So it will also help to offset part of the increase of CapEx due to FTTH rollout.
Thank you.
Thanks, André.
If there are any more questions, please indicate so. I have no more questions. David, maybe?
Maybe one. Yes, one last one for today, hopefully. On the synergies from VOO. So obviously, this year, you have MVNO. Yeah, can we get any quantification from this year on top of MVNO, what we could get in terms of cost savings, cost synergies? Thanks.
Except for the full year on top of MVNO, we expect around, let's say, between EUR 10 million and EUR 15 million of cost synergies.
Thanks very much, Antoine.
Okay, if there are no further questions, then we can conclude this presentation. We would like to apologize again for the technical issues that have occurred today. But if there are any additional questions that you may have, please don't hesitate to come back to us, and we will answer to that. Thank you very much and have a nice day.
Thanks a lot. Bye.
Thanks a lot.