Bouygues Telecom will now put landlines at the heart of its growth via a new marketing strategy in the hope of a second wind. The operator seeks to generate significant cash flow in a sustainable manner.
Alongside the presentation of his new B.iG brand and its innovative offer for families in response to Free Mobile, Bouygues Telecom announced on October 2 that it was lowering some of its objectives for its Capital Markets Day (CMD) presented in 2021 for the following five years. The operator therefore forecasts revenue from fixed and mobile services and EBITDAaL for 2026 to show modest growth compared to 2023 and below the numbers presented during the CMD. The telecoms subsidiary of the Bouygues group indicates in a press release that this is the consequence “an expected decline in Mobile ABPU and the impact in 2025 of the end of energy price hedges taken in 2020 and 2021.”
Furthermore, Bouygues Telecom, which increased its prices in an inflationary context, estimates that during this period “customer behaviors have evolved due to tensions over purchasing power”. And to add that “Connectivity remains an essential service that customers do not wish to give up, but they make trade-offs to optimize their bill.”
New loyalty strategy and conquest of the fixed market
Based on the premise that the Consumer Mobile market is changing in 2024, “with a slowdown in volume growth and competitive tension which has increased since the 2nd quarter, in particular on non-binding offers on the web”Bouygues Telecom is now initiating a new strategy of conquest and loyalty in this segment. This consists of putting fixed assets at the heart of growth by addressing “Home as a whole”, while responding “to the increased sensitivity of customers in terms of purchasing power through sustainable and competitive prices.” During the first half of 2024, the operator experienced a decline in fixed and mobile recruitment compared to the first half of 2023.
The operator hopes that this new marketing strategy will enable profitable growth in a turbulent market. This will depend on the success of its new bundled offers which will be launched on October 7, including a box and several mobile lines in order to favor multi-line households.
In its growth objective, the operator also announces “the continuation of cost control and operational efficiency work (industrialization of processes, contributions of artificial intelligence, simplification of organizations, discontinuation of old technologies)”and a reduction in investment needs from 2025 compared to the trajectory presented during the CMD, “thanks to the advance made in relation to the objectives in terms of coverage and quality delivered, and to the slower progression of mobile data uses on the French market.” Bouygues Telecom is confident in its ability to generate significant cash flow in a sustainable manner, and in any case confirms its objectives for the 2024 financial year.
This article was reprinted on the Univers FreeBox website