Orange collected 30 million euros from Internet services in the first quarter of this year, amid a doubling in smartphone sales and a higher number of users for mobile data. The company has 12,000 clients for services that combine Internet with fixed voice services.

Revenues posted by Orange, the biggest mobile telephony operator in Romania, fell by 10.2% in the first quarter of the year against the similar period of last year, to 237 million euros, while the number of company's clients rose by 7%, to 10.809 million.

"The rise in the post-paid customer base, thanks to intense moves aimed at ensuring client loyalty, and revenue stabilisation, are the indicators that marked the company's performance in the first quarter of the year, despite this being traditionally a weak season," said Orange CEO Thierry Millet. "The improvement in the revenue progression from month to month confirms the economic stabilisation prospects for this year," he added.

Orange Romania had collected 264 million euros in revenues in the first three months of 2009, amid a 10.118 million-client base. In the first quarter of 2009 the company announced a 14% revenue decline. The first quarter is generally weaker for mobile telephony companies, as compared with the end of the year (October - December).

The significant improvement in the rate of decline for revenues of Orange Romania, from -24% in the fourth quarter of 2009, to -10% in the first quarter of 2010, is considered by France Telecom, the operator's owner, as the best performance achieved by the group on European markets, apart from France, Spain, Poland, and the UK. The slowdown in the decline rate in Romania led to a 4% improvement in the overall progression of revenues on these markets, from -2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2009, to a 1.2% rise in the first three months of 2010.

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