Investopedia: France Telecom - The Thrill Is Gone

Continuing a theme that not all great-looking dividends are suitable for income-oriented investors, France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is having serious struggles in the market these days. Price-based competition is still a very real threat to France Telecom in Europe, while Africa is simply too small relative to Western Europe to make a substantial difference. That said, the lousy market performance of this stock seems to have washed out a lot of pessimism.

Dreary Results, as Expected  
Little was expected of France Telecom for end-of-year results, and that's pretty much what the company offered. Fourth quarter revenues dropped about 3%, with a 4% drop in revenue from France (which is about 50% of the total). There weren't any real surprises in the "why" - France Telecom is under considerable pressure on price and customer retention. To that point, churn rose again - up 70 basis points from the third quarter and almost three points from the year-ago period.

Read the full piece here:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/France-Telecom--The-Thrill-Is-Gone-FTE-VOD-TEF-DTEGY.PK0306.aspx