Hello, and welcome to the Orange Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results Conference Call, hosted today by Koen Van Mol, Xavier Pichon and Antoine Chouc. Please bear in mind, this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen-only. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero and you'll be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to your host, Koen Van Mol, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Orange Belgium H2 2025 earnings call. My name is Koen Van Mol, and with me today are Xavier Pichon, our CEO, and Antoine Chouc, our CFO. They will walk us through the company's performance as well as the strategic initiatives for the second half and full year of 2025. After their presentations, we will open the floor for questions. Now I will pass the floor to Xavier.
Thanks, Koen. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we present Orange Belgium's financial results for the second half and the full year of 2025. Then, so as we look back at the second semester and full year of 2025, I'm pleased to report that we are on track with our Lead the Future strategy. We made significant progress across key areas, including network leadership, digital transformation, and customer experience. Let me start with some key highlights. At the start of the second semester, we signed a MoU with Proximus to access each other's infrastructure and improve access to gigabit networks in Wallonia. This collaboration will enable us to provide access to high-speed connectivity to our customers while optimizing our investment spendings.
In the meantime, we continue to extend and to upgrade our gigabit fixed network to meet the demand on our customers for the high-speed internet. Recently, our network leadership has been validated by Ookla, recognizing Orange Belgium as having the fastest 5G network in Belgium, reflecting our commitment to superior mobile performance. Over the past semester, we have observed a consistent improvement in the customer experience, which directly reflects the dedicated efforts and strategic initiatives we have implemented to enhance this aspect of our service. In parallel, we actively encourage our customers to migrate to the new portfolio, and the results demonstrate its attractiveness and the value it offers to our customers. From an environmental perspective, our efforts have resulted in a 6% year-over-year reduction in CO2 emissions, encompassing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, reflecting our commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
Also, we launched the Smartphone Pass, empowering parents in digital education and increase our digital inclusion beneficiaries by 30% compared to 2024. Slide 6. So in a nutshell, turning to commercial results, our performance in H2 2025 was very encouraging. Our mobile postpaid customer base grew by 2.5% year-on-year, reaching 3.55 million customers, with net additions of 38,000 during the semester. This growth was driven by the continued appeal of our customers' offers and targeted promotional campaigns. On the fixed side, our cable customer base increased by 1.8%, totaling roughly 1.4 million customers, reflecting the success of our convergent offers and high-speed connectivity.
For the full year, our revenue performance was slightly below last year, with total revenues at EUR 1,963 million, down 1.5%. This decline was partly due to the non-renewal of Belgium football rights, as well as a decrease in low-margin activities, such as incoming SMS. However, our EBITDA grew by 3.4%, reaching EUR 566.1 million, supported by synergies from the VOO acquisition and ongoing cost efficiencies. Our CapEx increased modestly by 1.8% to roughly EUR 377.6 million, reflecting investment in RAN sharing, 5G deployment, and gigabit network expansion. These investments are crucial to provide the optimal customer experience we want to offer. These results show the strength of our strategy, the quality of our execution, and the dedication of our teams.
At this point, I'd like to hand over to our CFO, Antoine, who will provide a deeper dive into our financial performance and explain our guidance for 2026.
Thank you, Xavier, and good morning, everyone. Let me take you through the details, starting with the evolution of our revenues on slide 7. So as shown on the slide, I hope you can see it on the stream. Our total revenues declined slightly by 1.5%, partly due to the non-renewal of the Jupiler Pro League football rights, which impacted the service revenues. Service revenues from convergent offers increased by 3.8%, reaching EUR 634 million, while mobile service revenues declined by 6.7% to EUR 563 million, reflecting ongoing market dynamics. On slide 8, let's zoom on the EBITDA evolution. On the cost side, we maintained tight control over expenses throughout the year. Our direct costs total EUR 636 million, reflecting disciplined management and ongoing efficiency initiatives.
Indirect costs amounted to a bit less than EUR 500 million, which is down to, down 6.2% compared to last year. This reduction was driven by our continuous effort to optimize overheads, streamline processes, and of course, leverage synergies from the VOO integration and several other operational improvements. All these cost controls measures contributed significantly to our EBITDA growth. For the full year, EBITDA increased by 4%, reaching EUR 566 million, which is slightly above our initial guidance range. This growth was primarily fueled by the realization of synergy from the VOO acquisition, which helped reduce operating costs, as well ongoing efficiency measures across network and corporate functions. Furthermore, our focus on operational excellence allowed us to offset some of the pressure from market dynamics. Finally, the non-renewal of the football rights supported the improvement in EBITDA.
This solid financial foundation demonstrates our ability to generate strong cash flow and maintain a healthy balance sheet. Now, let's move to slide seven, regarding CapEx, eCAPEX. For the full year of 2025, our eCAPEX, excluding license fee, totaled EUR 376 million, represented an increase of 2.1% year-on-year. This reflect our continued investment in key strategic areas. A significant portion of this spending was allocated to the implementation of the RAN-sharing program, which is critical to optimizing our network infrastructure, accelerating our 5G deployment, and reducing our cost. We also invested in upgrading our cable network and began the initial stages of our FTTP rollout. Let's move to slide seven, ten, sorry. Consolidating our results, we can confirm that we are well in line with our guidance for the full year of 2025.
Thanks to the important efforts we've made, we slightly exceeded our EBITDA guidance, and achieved EUR 566 million, as said, which is slightly above the range between EUR 545 million and EUR 565 million. And with an amount of EUR 376 million in ECAPEX, we are exactly in the middle of our bracket, which, which was between EUR 366 million and EUR 385 million. All in all, we are—we have well achieved the guidance we had established beginning 2025. Let's move to slide 12. Looking forward, in 2026, we expect an increase in our EBITDA by around 3.5% in comparison to 2025.
We also forecast a decrease of our ECAPEX, and that will reach approximately EUR 360 million. I'd like to conclude this presentation on a more personal note, because today marks my final conference as CFO here, as I'll be taking the role of CFO of Orange France as from April first. I'd like to say how honored I've been to serve as CFO during this pivotal years for Orange Belgium. It's been a pleasure to engage with the analyst and investor community over the past few years. Thanks for challenging us and pushing us to do better. And a special thanks to the most dedicated among you who continue to follow us despite the lower liquidity of the stock.
I'm very proud of what we achieved together with the team over the years. We strengthened Orange Belgium's financial profile and profitability. We've always been very disciplined on end execution, and we have now a clear roadmap for sustainable value creation. I'm absolutely fully confident that Orange Belgium, strengthened by the acquisition and the successful integration of VOO, is very well positioned to tackle all the challenges ahead, and I wish all the best to the executive committee and all the teams. With that, I'd like to conclude my presentation, and we'll be more than happy to answer all your questions.
Thank you. We will now have a Q&A session where you have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the result. Operator, may I ask you to open the floor for questions?
Sure. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now on your telephone keypad, and, to redraw your question, hit star two. Please ensure your line remains unmuted locally, and also ensure to mention your names and the company you're calling from. A voice prompt on your line will indicate when your line is open. Thank you. First caller, please go ahead.
Hello, good morning, everyone. So David, David Vagman from ING. Thanks for taking my question. The first one on the 2026 EBITDA guidance. So can we discuss its key building blocks? So looking at incremental cost savings, so full synergies, pricing, revenues, and also football rights. I guess it's quite some degree of uncertainty there, but what have you modeled basically there? So that's my first question. So go on, you talked a little bit about the fiber investment and FTTP investment. Should we expect a significant start, maybe not in 2026, but then when should we expect the, let's say, then to come when you have the drop in RAN-sharing investment? But, so basically, how should your CapEx evolve in the coming years?
And then the last question, maybe more for Xavier. Looking multiple years ahead, commercially and strategically. So what are you hoping for Orange Belgium in the long term? So when you joined, I think you were very bullish on fixed and market share, if I remember correctly. Now, of course, you have a high chance of achieving very significant wholesale fixed revenues in the south. So has your view changed on what Obel should do or not do? Thank you.
Okay. So I'll maybe take the first two questions, and then I'll leave Xavier answer to your third question. Regarding the main building blocks of our EBITDA growth expected for next year, clearly, the main driver is an increase in VOO's synergies coming from VOO acquisition. We still have some room for such an increase over, and I think we will reach kind of a plateau for this synergy in 2028. But so we still expect a growth of, let's say, EUR 15 million of synergies next year that will fuel our EBITDA growth. And we have many other cost efficiencies that will also help us on top of these synergies.
We will also be helped by a slight increase that we expect on our service revenues. 2026 will be the year where we will be back to growth. It will be fostered by the good commercial dynamic, especially on mobile, but also thanks to the price increase that we announced that we launched and implemented at the beginning of the year. And yeah, football rights could also contribute to this EBITDA growth.
But there is still some uncertainty, as you know, regarding whether or not it will be renewed and at what price, because there are still discussions ongoing, and we will be more than happy to continue the distribution of this football rights for our clients. But we can't do that at, but we will only do that at if we can reach a good and healthy financial agreement with DAZN. When it comes to CapEx, as you can see, we announce, and we commit on the decrease of our CapEx for next year.
So clearly, we will start if we will increase our FTTH deployment, but it will remain quite limited in 2026. So no big change expected. So it will still be a year for some kind of a preparation to lay the ground for an acceleration as from 2027, 2028. So we'll have an increase in our FTTH rollout pace as from 2027. And maybe I can let Xavier answer to your third question.
Thanks, David, for your specific question on the goal we've had, I would say, five years ago. Actually, this is exactly what we did. So we did what we announced. Of course, we did it for most of the numbers while we acquired VOO in the south. When we arrived five years ago, we were a wholesale buyer for the nationwide, I say. Since we bought VOO, now we became full MNO in the south, which is not, of course, the case in the north. But we're happy with the deal with Wyre and Telenet, of course, in the north. But this is not the same, I would say, situation between the two regions.
In the south, we're quite now a co-leader with roughly 40% market share on the fixed and convergent area. So this is what we aimed to do in the south. Now, of course, nationwide, we need to deliver also a growth, organic growth in terms of net acquisition, which was not the case in 2025. You're right, I would say. This is something also we've chosen to do pragmatically, seeing the market, seeing, of course, the value-driven strategy we've having since now years. Okay, we decided not to, I would say, follow others and to make sure that the value generation was according to our plan. So of course, this is something we also worked on, you know, through the A-brand.
We see most of the peer also generating volumes on B brands. This is, of course, what we did, but we decided to smooth a little bit, thanks to the value policy we're having. This is it.
Okay. Thanks very much to both and of course, Antoine, all the best at Orange France, and many thanks for the interaction.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we currently have no question coming through. As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now on your telephone keypad. Well, there are no further questions, so I will hand you back to Koen to take questions from the webcast. The floor is yours.
We still have some questions on the chat. So the question is twofold. Could you please zoom in on the timeline to operationalize the fiber collaboration with Proximus? And the second question, the mobile, zoom in on the mobile competitive situation overall, and specifically the evolution of the churn rate to Digi.
So maybe on the first one, so we are having, I would say, some discussion with the authorities here in Belgium locally. Of course, BIPT and ABC. So this is something, we are, I would say, working on at the moment, for the sales, of course. There is also a requirement on the market, depending on the north as well, so this is something we have worked on as well. So, we're not, I would say, in the driver's seat for that, but this is something that has been discussed with the authorities. Normally, they should give a statement on these agreements by the end, I would say, by the end of the year, 2026.
So of course, this is something we are waiting and then afterwards, so we'll see, of course, how to make sure to implement this agreement as soon as we can. For the question number two, Digi? That-
Right. Is it the mobile competitive situation overall and focus specifically on the-
Yeah
On Digi.
Yeah. So on the market, you know, this is maybe a bit different on the mobile side, because you know that, since Digi came, I would say at the end of 2024, so we've put a dedicated policy to make sure that our market share will be, of course, sticking to what it was previously. So we decided to align hey! I would say to the first Digi offers, late 2024 and early 2025. Since they, I would say, they were not so present in the market, so we decided to join the value policy we are having, I would say broadly, including, of course, the fixed we've just discussed, but also on the mobile side.
So this is why we haven't seen, honestly, so much churn from Orange to Digi, so far. So this is something, of course, which is very scrutinized within the company. So, so far, I would say, so good for Orange. So this is it for the moment, and we'll see, of course, for 2026, what will happen on this dedicated market.
Okay. In the meantime, another question came in. So are you seeing much fiber deployment from Digi? Do you think Digi will be credible FMC competitor over the medium term?
Sorry. Are you seeing more fiber? I think, you know, in Belgium, for the people who are familiar with... So this is something that is organized, I would say, locally, so we are dedicated. We are having all the peers that are having dedicated tools, technical tools, where we need to announce and, of course, say what we will do in terms of fiber rollout and all the civil works. So yeah, we see Digi coming in some dense areas, I would say, around some cities, but this is not something we are focused on actually. We are having our own strategy. We are having our own now full gigabit and modernized network in the south.
We are relating, we are related to a Wyre Telenet in the north, so this is something that is, of course, very precious for us as we are having the most, I would say, integrated and gigabit proposal nationwide. Of course, with satellite on top. So we are much more focused on what we are doing, actually.
Another question from the chat. Any comment you can make on the mobile and fixed ARPU in 2026? You have said you hope to go to back to growth on service revenues.
Yeah, sure. As you know, we don't disclose our ARPUs anymore, and especially of course, not forecast in our ARPU evolution. But what I can say is that, yes, we plan to be back to growth in B2C retail, despite the market pressure and... That's... We are quite confident that we'll be able to achieve this goal. I would say a low single-digit growth.
But back to growth.
Okay, there are no further questions in the chat, so we can conclude this analyst call. We would like to thank you for your participation. Would you have any follow-up questions, please don't hesitate to contact the IR team for any additional questions you may have. Thank you very much, and have a good day.
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