Why would Orange exit Romania?

France Telecom, one of the largest communications companies in Europe, could decide to sell its "smaller operations" in Romania, Austria and Belgium in order to focus on markets with a major growth potential in the Middle East and Africa, said Gervais Pellissier, the company's chief financial officer, quoted by Bloomberg. France Telecom will weigh consolidation opportunities as well as possible sales, he added without providing details on the duration of the review or the criteria considered.

Orange is leader of the Romanian communications market by all indicators: revenues, profit or number of clients. Orange posted 973 million euros in revenues in 2010, more than Vodafone, and had 10.4 million clients, more than the other players in the market. In 2009, Orange posted a 270 million-euro net profit, which compares with Vodafone's 245 million euros and the much smaller earnings or losses of the other rivals.

So why would the Romanian market leader leave this market, and what is the signal that the company is sending through this shock variant? "This is no surprise," says a source close to the company. "Such decisions are made before they become urgently necessary. An assessment of prospects is nothing out of the ordinary," adds the source.