Abstract
The French government created France Telecom in 1988. The company was privatized in 1997, and in the following year lost the state monopoly as the telecommunications industry opened up to competition.
Given the context, the company then began to expand through a number of partnerships and acquisitions. The Global One partnership formed in January 1996 with Sprint (US) and Deutsche Telekom created an international communication network which was fully acquired by France Telecom in 2000. Growth continued in July 1999 when France Telecom acquired an equity interest in British cable operator NTL. This was followed in October 1999 by France Telecom's launch of its European Backbone Network.
The company expanded into the Internet in 1998 with the development of Wanadoo. In 2000, Wanadoo extended its operations into the UK, buying leading ISP Freeserve. The company also operates in Denmark, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands amongst others.
France Telecom made a major expansion in the mobile market in June 2000 by acquiring UK-based mobile operator Orange. The acquisition completed the company's interests in mobile companies and made it one of the largest mobile providers in Europe.
Our analysis will focus on the cash flows generated by France Telecom during two periods [from 2000 to 2002] and [from 2008 to 2010]. What was the financial situation at the end of 2002 and 2010?
