Fitch, the rating agency, affirmed its rating for France Télécom's senior unsecured debt but changed its outlook after Orange, the mobile phone service provider, floated on the stock exchange for less than initially expected.

France Télécom raised €9bn ($8.3bn), around two-thirds of the amount it had hoped to receive when it first decided to float Orange, its mobile telephone subsidiary. Orange had a market capitalisation of approximately €47bn on the day of its initial public offering.