STOCKHOLM, July 26 (Reuters) - Orange, France's biggest telecoms operator, on Wednesday posted second-quarter core operating earnings in line with expectations, driven by higher prices and upbeat growth in Africa and the Middle East markets.

The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after leases (EBITDAaL) rose 1% on a comparable basis to 3.31 billion euros ($3.66 billion), matching analysts' view in a company-compiled poll.

Quarterly revenue of Orange, which operates in 26 countries, rose 2.6% to 10.93 billion euros.

Apart from Africa and Middle East sales, which jumped 12%, revenue in Spain - Orange's second-biggest market - grew 2.1%, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly gain.

Still, revenue in the company's biggest market France fell 1.3%.

"In Europe and in France, our quarterly results in retail services show the positive momentum of our value strategy, underpinned by price increases the benefits of which in France will be fully visible in the second half of the year," CEO Christel Heydemann said in a statement.

Orange plans to combine its Spanish operations with MasMovil in an 18.6-billion-euro deal.

The company also confirmed its outlook for organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least 3.5 billion euros and slight growth in EBITDAaL this year.

($1 = 0.9051 euros) (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)