Store staff working for Orange UK (France Telecom) have reported a 50%+ drop in broadband sales after the operator introduced a £30 connection fee to its service two weeks ago. Mobile Today notes that consumer complaints and poor ratings in an independent poll have also added to their problems.

In addition the most recent batch of quarterly results showed that Orange actually lost broadband subscribers, touching 1,138,000 at the end of Q4-2007 after having been 1,142,000 in Q3 (here). The operator hopes to turn the situation around under a new long-term plan:


The reference subscriber statistic suggests that Orange may have managed to replace the customers it lost in Q4 last year, although it also points to continued problems with slow growth. Mind you, slow growth is now a problem for most ISPs.