French Internet company Wanadoo SA, a unit of France Telecom SA, reported on Monday a 38 per cent year-on-year rise in first-quarter revenue and said it signed up over 250,000 new customers during the quarter.
Wanadoo saw first-quarter revenue climb to 567 million euros (US$612 million as of March 31, the last day of the period being reported), with Internet access accounting for 355 million euros, the company said in a statement.
Revenue from directories, another core business, rose nine per cent to 175 million euros.
Wanadoo, which last year was the first major Internet service provider (ISP) in Europe to report a profit, has relied on its profitable Internet access and directories operations to grow after the collapse of the Internet boom over two years ago.
In its core French market, the company increased its subscriber base 26 per cent to 4.1 million from 3.3 million for the same period the year before, according to the statement.
Its U.K. subsidiary Freeserve PLC saw its subscriber base increase to 2.7 million compared to 2.5 million the year before.
Altogether, Wanadoo had 8.8 million Internet access customers in Europe, including 1.6 million subscribers to its broadband Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and cable services.
In addition to its financial results, the French ISP announced a new structure consisting of six business units and several executive management changes. The six business units are Wanadoo France, Wanadoo Netherlands, Wandoo Spain, Wanadoo U.K. (Freeserve), Wanadoo E-Merchant and Directories.
