France Telecom ponders selling some European operations, Orange Romania included

France Telecom may sell some of its smaller European operations as growth slows on the continent, announced the company's chief financial officer, Gervais Pellissier, quoted by Bloomberg. Aside from France, Poland and Spain, “all the other countries are involved in this review,” which will examine opportunities for consolidation as well as possible sales of operations, he added. Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard is weighing the future of businesses in countries including Austria, Belgium, and Romania, the company announcing that its sales in the smaller European markets have increased by 1.2 percent compared to 5.8 percent in Africa and the Middle East, excluding Egypt. The company's EBITDA profit in the first quarter decreased 1.3 percent to EUR 3.73 billion, due to the introduction of fees for buyers and instability in Egypt. Check the story on Bloomberg. Orange Romania recorded in the first quarter of 2011 revenues of EUR 222 million, down 6 percent compared the same period in 2010, according to the financial results presented by France Telecom group. At the end of 2010, Orange had 10.5 million customers in Romania. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com