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* Competition dents sales in France, Spain
* Update on possible networks sales to come on Dec. 4 - CFO
* Confirms full-year targets
(Adds details, background)
By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Strong demand in Africa and the
Middle East helped telecoms company Orange offset a
fall in its two main European markets, France and Spain, where
heavy promotions dented quarterly sales.
France's biggest telecoms firm, which has bet on bundling
offers for broadband and mobile and high investments in its
networks, has been struggling with cut-price competition since
Iliad started to offer low cost mobile services in 2012
in the country.
A new round of promotions in Spain, where competitors
include Vodafone and Masmovil, saw Orange's
third-quarter sales there fall by 2.5% on a comparable basis.
The fall was 0.4% in France.
However, the group benefited from 7.6% growth in Africa and
the Middle East, helped by strong growth in subscriber numbers
and the success of its money transfer services.
Overall, third-quarter group sales rose 0.8% on a comparable
basis to 10.6 billion euros ($11.8 billion), while core
operating profit climbed 0.2% to 3.62 billion euros, in line
with expectations.
Orange shares dipped more than 1% in early trade.
The company also signalled it would update markets at an
investor day on Dec. 4 about a possible sale of its mobile and
fibre networks in Europe.
"We've already made a number of comments on how to best
value our infrastructure assets," Chief Financial Officer Ramon
Fernandez told reporters on a call. "We'll tell you a lot more
on December 4."
French rivals Bouygues Telecom, Iliad and Altice
Europe's SFR have all opened their mobile networks to
other investors.
Orange confirmed its full-year guidance, including for
slightly lower core operating profit growth than in 2018, as
well as lower investments after they peaked last year.
($1 = 0.9019 euros)
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Matthias Blamont and
Mark Potter)
