France Telecom 3rd Quarter Revenue Falls 6.4 Pct

PARIS (AP) — France Telecom SA said Thursday its profitability was squeezed in the third quarter as the impact of weak currencies and lower inter-operator fees caused its revenue to fall 6.4 percent.

The operator of France's leading mobile telecommunications operator Orange blamed new regulations in France, Britain, Poland and other key markets which lowered the fees operators pay one another to send calls over each others' networks for much of the decline.

Revenue fell to euro12.7 billion ($18.7 billion) in the July-September period from euro13.6 billion a year earlier.

The formerly state-owned operator, whose largest shareholder remains the French government, also blamed currency weakness in Britain and Poland for the slide in revenue.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, contracted 8 percent in the third quarter to euro4.6 billion, the company said in a statement.

That decline left France Telecom's EBITDA margin, a closely watched measure of the company's profitability, at 35.1 percent at the end of September, compared to 35.7 percent at the same time last year.