France Telecom Strengthens Position As Europe's Leading Broadband Service Provider

London, UK - November 21, 2005 - France Telecom's broadband division, Wanadoo, is outperforming competitors in Europe's surging broadband market according to the latest "Broadband Service Provider Subscriber Database," published by Strategy Analytics' Broadband Media & Communications service. This interactive database summarizes quarterly subscriber growth trends for 67 major broadband service providers (BSPs) operating across Western Europe, accounting for more than 80 percent of the total broadband market. At the end of the second quarter of 2005 these service providers accounted for nearly 40 million broadband households in 16 countries, an increase of 57 percent over the same period in 2004.

"The four largest service providers in Europe all have pan-European operations," notes Martin Olausson, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "It is becoming increasingly clear that consolidation and cross-border expansion will continue to shape the European broadband market in the years to come."

This report also notes that while many of the largest BSPs are operated by incumbent telecom operators such as France Telecom, Telecom Italia and Deutsche Telekom, other major players in the European market include competitive ISPs such as AOL Europe, Tiscali and Free/Iliad. UK-based NTL is the largest cable-based BSP serving Europe, ahead of pan-European cable operator UPC.