OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings says in its French Telecoms Dashboard that after a period of successive market contraction, the French telecoms market is stabilising. However, we expect the market to remain competitive as challenger operators, Iliad and Bouygues, drive to gain scale.

The 2H15 French Telecoms Dashboard explores key trends in the sector and their impact on the main network operators in the country, including the following:

Key theme: Stabilising trends allow some cost cutting, but competitive challenge remains

What Fitch is watching:
- Whether Orange's network investments enable a sustainable improvement in market share
- Price increases Numericable / SFR are followed by other operators
- Competitiveness of the 700MHz French spectrum auctions

The stabilisation of EBITDA and operational trends in recent quarters is consistent with Fitch's expectations and the revision of Orange SA's Outlook from Negative to Stable in June 2015. The full press release is available at https://www.fitchratings.com/site/fitch-home/pressrelease?id=986092.

A complete review of these topics including the dashboard is available at www.fitchratings.com.