Orange Moldova, the local unit of France Telecom's Internet and mobile arm Orange, said on Tuesday its third-quarter revenues dropped 3.7% on the year to 32 million euro ($34.8 million), affected by a downturn in incoming international traffic since the last quarter of 2015.

Orange Moldova had 2.19 million clients at the end of September, up from 2.139 million at the end of 2015.

The blended annual revenue per user (ARPU) declined to 4.4 euro in the nine months through September, from 4.9 euro a year earlier.

The operator's 4G network covers 96% of the country's population.

"The mobile services trend improved in Moldova, but continued to be impacted by the significant downturn in incoming international traffic," Orange said.

In the second quarter of the year, Orange Moldova recorded a revenue of 30 million euro, down 6.1% on the year.

On October 18, Moldova's antitrust regulator approved the takeover of Moldovan cable and pay TV company Sun Communications by Orange Moldova.

The transaction will allow Orange to enter the fixed-line and pay TV services market and offer new services, particularly convergent offers and services across fixed, mobile and pay TV services, SEE NEWS reports.