Position as leading supplier of fixed-line and mobile telecoms services in France, with all the strong attributes of a former monopolistic telecoms-services provider; Large, primarily Pan-European, mobile-telephony franchise, encompassing 32.7 million customers outside France at year-end 2004, across 22 countries; Solid profitability (38.7%) and strong organic discretionary cash flow (€7.6 billion) in 2004, owing to operating efficiencies and reductions of capital expenditures; and Visibility of financial policy, with the group committed to reducing its ratio of unadjusted net debt to EBITDA to less than 2x by year-end 2005 (according to French GAAP) and to maintain this ratio in the range of 1.5x-2.0x thereafter. Bold regulatory decisions in the domestic asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) market and strong competition in the
