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Company Brief
Orange (France Telecom)

by Faulkner Staff

Copyright 2022, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00012825

Publication Date: 2207

Report Type: VENDOR

Preview

Orange S.A. (France Telecom), which began its life as France’s Post Telegraph and Telephone (PTT),
is a communications holding company that offers legacy fixed line, mobile, and
Internet services in countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East,
and the Americas. This company brief looks at Orange’s operations in greater detail.

Report Contents:

• Fast Facts
• History
• Key Executives
• Major Products
• Major Competitors
• Recent Activity

Fast Facts

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Name: Orange
Headquarters
78 Rue Olivier de Serres
75505 Paris Cedex 15
France
Phone: +33 (0)9 69 36 39 00
Web: http://www.orange.com/
Type of Vendor: Communications Service Provider
Founded: 1889 (Direction Generale des Telecommunications)
Service Areas: EMEA, including France, as well as North America
Employees: 148,000 (2021)
Stock Symbol: ORAN (NYSE)

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History

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Orange is one of the leading operators for mobile and Internet
services in Europe and Asia, as well as global powerhouse for corporate
telecommunications services. The company, headquartered in France, has "148,000+
employees" (2021) worldwide, and provides 4G and 5G services in a number of countries. Orange
also provides a combination of wireline, wireless, Internet services, Internet
TV, and hosting services in 35 countries with fully owned or partially owned
subsidiaries and partnerships in each country.

Orange also offers Orange Business Services (formerly Equant), a networking
business that offers services to multinational corporations that provide networking services
worldwide over its IP backbone, submarine cable, wireless, and satellite
network
segments. Orange’s services are available in Europe, North America, Latin
America,
Australia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Orange is one of the
world’s largest operators of mobile and Internet services in Europe and Africa,
as well as a global leader in corporate telecommunications services.

Orange
also:

• Serves an area that includes 47.2 million homes capable of receiving FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) services.
• Supports 240,000 kilometers of undersea cable.
• Invests EUR700 million (US$813 million) in research and innovation.
• Supports 21.9 million Orange Money customers
• Provides services for 259 million customers.
• Holds 6,857 patents.
• Boasts its N1 mobile network in France.

Strategy

Orange’s international strategy is to offer what it calls an "unmatched
experience" to customers worldwide. This is done specifically by consolidating
the markets in which it operates, and by combining / diversifying its activities
in order to take advantage of mobile technology in new markets such as banking
and finance. The
company also seeks to use its strengths in innovation as a key differentiator
over competitors. In addition, Orange’s strategy centers around five "action
levers":

• Enriched connectivity to perform better on every front.
• Reinvented customer relationships through personalized
  relationships, transformed sales spaces, and digitized customer
  interactions.
• An established "people-oriented" and "digital employer" model
  that is backed by digital technology and encourages commitment.
• Support for enterprise customer transformations by putting
  technology at the heart of its transformation projects.
• Capitalizing on its assets and future "key" markets such as
  mobile banking and connected objects to diversify assets.

Timeline

Orange can trace its roots to 1889 as Direction Générale

des Télécommunications, and then as an arm of the French Administration
in the
early twentieth century. On January 1, 1991, the company was declared an

autonomous, state-owned entity subject to commercial law. The company’s
status
change was the result of France’s Telecommunications Regulation Law,
which went
into effect on the same date. The law freed the company, then known as
France Telecom, to compete with other
companies for various telecommunication services within the nation and
gave it the right to control its own budget. Significant milestones
include the
following:

• 1996 – French Senate calls for the disposition of a 49
  percent interest in
  France Telecom to be sold in 1997.
• 1999 – Agrees to acquire Global One, its three-way alliance with
  Sprint and Deutsche Telekom.
• 2000 – Acquires Orange UK and unites it with its own wireless business
  under the Orange name.
• 2001 – Purchases Equant and merges it with Global One.
• 2004 – Adopts a new organizational structure that is built on its core
  businesses of mobile and broadband with five operational divisions and five
  performance divisions.
• 2005 – Buys all the remaining shares of Equant that
  it
  did not already own; the 45.8 percent share of the networking unit cost
  EUR564 million … Signs an agreement to buy the Amena wireless unit of
  Auna, a Spanish
  communications company.
• 2006 – Merges its Wanadoo Internet services unit with the Orange
  Group to further the marketing of the Orange brand … Merges its Equant
  Networking unit under the Orange brand as Orange
  Business Services.
• 2007 – Acquires Spanish ISP ya.com from Deutsche Telekom.
• 2008 – Adopts the orange.com Web site as the group’s
  global Web site to
  further underline the importance that it puts on its wireless business.
• 2009 – Acquires Data & Mobiles, a fleet management
  operator … Sells Web businesses Topachat.com and Clust.com to Rue du
  Commerce in February … Signs an agreement with Rue du Commerce to sell
  Alapage, a cultural-product selling Web site … Purchases 100 percent
  of online advertising firm Unanimis … Merges its Orange UK operation
  with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK operation in a 50:50 joint venture,
  Everything Everywhere Limited.
• 2010 – Rolls out an SMS and MMS-based
  interactive
  advertising service .. Signs with TF1 Publicite to begin offering
  interactive
  television advertising … Settles its
  longterm dispute with Orascom Telecom over the ownership of
  Mobinil; joins
  its Orange Business Services division with the VMWare cloud initiative …
  Completes the acquisition of 40 percent of Meditel, a
  licensed
  mobile provider in Morocco … Launches Orange Business Services’ Cloud

  Computing initiative.

• 2011 – Adds the Orange Android tablet to its
  product line of tablet computers … Launches the Samsung Wave to allow
  customers to use contactless, Near Field Communications (NFC) … Completes
  the
  sale of 33.3 percent of Orange Cinema Series to Canal+.
• 2012 – Acquires a 92.9 percent stake in Egyptian carrier Mobinil for EUR1.5
  billion.
• 2013 – Approves a motion to officially change its operating name from France
  Telecom to Orange in order to better align its title with its service
  brands … Completes LTE coverage for the entire Paris metro area. 
• 2014 – Signs an agreement to acquire Spanish
  telecom firm Jazztel for EUR3.4 billion, and announces plans to use the
  acquired assets to expand its telecom offerings in Spain, with a particular
  focus on fixed/mobile converged products.
• 2015 – Announces Marc Rennard (customer experience and mobile
  financial services) and Bruno Mettling (AMEA) as Deputy CEOs, Laurent
  Paillassot as Orange Spain CEO, and Jerome Barre as EVP for Human Resources.
• 2016 – Acquires mobile operator Airtel …
  Sells its 50 percent share in EE to BT.
• 2017 – Enters into a landmark collaboration deal with Microsoft to
  focus on delivering large-scale, end-to-end IoT (Internet of Things)
  technology to boost digital processes for the manufacturing sector.
• 2018 – Begins conducting 5G testing in "zones" throughout France.
• 2019 – Sells its investment in BT Group for GBP486 million (US$598
  million). Establishes an LTE roaming agreement with AT&T, KPN, and
  Swisscom.
• 2020 – In a joint project with Google, lays the first France-to-US submarine cable
  in more than
  15 years, expanding connectivity between Europe and North America.
• 2022 – Capgemini and Orange announced a plan to set up a new company named “Bleu”
  that will provide a “Cloud de Confiance” service that meets sovereignty requirements of the French State.

Key Executives

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Orange’s key executives include:

• Chairman — Jacques Aschenbroich
• CEO — Christel Heydemann
• Delegate CEO and Executive Vice President of Finance, Performance and
  Development — Ramon Fernandez
• Deputy CEO and Executive Vice President of People & Group Transformation and Chairman of Orange Business Services — Gervais Pellissier
• Deputy CEO in charge of Orange’s operational activities in Europe (outside France) — Mari-Noelle Jego-Laveissiere
• Deputy CEO in charge of mobile financial services and Chief Executive Officer of Orange Bank — Paul de Leusse
• Deputy CEO of Orange and CEO of Orange France — Fabienne Dulac

Major Products

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Orange provides voice, data,
Internet, video, and business services in France and on a
global basis. The company is the nation’s primary local and long distance telecom
provider and also holds the administrative and operational responsibility for
one of France’s broadcasting networks. Table 1 provides a list of the company’s
products and services.

Network Description

Orange offers a secure global VPN IP network that links more than 400 sites
in more than 220 countries and territories, as well as 325,000 client sites.
This network employs technology such as Ethernet, VDSL (very-high-bit-rate
digital subscriber line) / fiber, 3G / 4G / 5G, LoRa digital wireless data
communication technology, and LPWA (low-power wireless array) / IoT (Internet of
Things). Orange also owns and operates fixed line networks in
France, Poland, Senegal, and other countries; is the competitive fixed-line carrier
in Romania, the UK, and Spain, where it rents the network elements; and offers fixed-line broadband (ADSL) services in France, Poland;
and different Africa-Middle East countries.

Orange’s global footprint is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Orange’s Footprint

Source – Orange

Backbone

Orange’s global backbone also includes access to the
European Broadband Networks (EBNs), which connects 33 major cities of Europe from
Bristol, UK, to Warsaw, Poland. The EBN connects to a large number of
submarine cables.

Satellite

Orange also uses satellite communications to provide several services
including:

• Connection of French overseas holdings to the general backbone.
• IP or voice links to other operators.
• VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) services to Orange Business Services
  customers.

To provide these services, Orange uses capacity available on
its satellites or capacity rented from satellite operators (Eutelsat, Intelsat,
and NSS). Satellites are also used to provide fixed broadband access in areas
where access is difficult, such as remote mountain areas. They also allow the
Group to provide its ADSL customers with the Orange TV service in areas where
ADSL is available but with insufficient bandwidth for television.

Wireless

Orange has rolled out GSM in every
country where it has a mobile network, has introduced EDGE in many, and has
rolled out 3G/UMTS in mobile networks in Europe. In addition, the Group is in
the process of rolling out 4G LTE in Europe, as well as select nations in
Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East. In addition
to Orange’s proprietary networks, the carrier offers roaming services on more
than 650 mobile networks in about 200 countries and territories. The company
also offers Wi-Fi access in many countries.

Major Competitors

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Orange’s top competitors include:

• AT&T: http://www.att.com/
• Bouygues Telecom: http://www.bouyguestelecom.fr/
• BT: http://www.bt.com/
• Proximus: http://www.proximus.be/en/
• SFR: http://www.sfr.fr/
• Telefonica: http://www.telefonica.com/
• T-Mobile International: http://www.t-mobile.com/international/
• Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.com/
• Verizon Communications: http://www.verizon.com/

Recent Activity

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In May 2022, Capgemini and Orange announced their plan to set up a new company named "Bleu" that will provide
a "Cloud de Confiance" service that will meet sovereignty requirements of the French State, public
administrations, and critical infrastructure companies with privacy, security, and resiliency needs as determined
by the French State. Bleu will provide its customers with an independent, trusted cloud platform containing a
broad catalog of digital solutions and cutting-edge collaborative tools. The partnership promises a significant
step forward in accelerating France’s digital transformation.

In July 2021, Orange outlined its goals for three of its growth drivers: Orange Africa & the Middle East,
Orange Business Services, and Orange Cyberdefense. The company sees strong value-creating potential in Africa
and the Middle East due to three sources of growth that cover both individual and business customers: data,
which will continue to grow thanks to 4G penetration among customers; fixed broadband, which will benefit from
Orange’s leadership in connectivity; and mobile financial services, where revenues are expected to reach almost
one billion euros by 2025. By 2025, Orange Business Services is expected to generate more than 55 percent of its
revenues from three main areas of growth: digital (cloud, digital & data, IoT, cyber), integration services, and
new connectivity services. Lastly, Orange Cyberdefense will take steps to seize new opportunities for external
growth through the possible creation of a standalone subsidiary. The Group aims to achieve double-digital revenue
growth, higher than that of the market, and an EBITDAaL margin in the medium term about double that of today.

After more than a year’s delay, Orange spun off its investment fund arm into
a separate legal entity renamed Orange Ventures as of January 1, 2021. With 350 million euros
worth of start-up investments, Orange Ventures will focus on early stage start-ups in Africa and
the Middle East in addition to more mature companies in Europe and the US.

In January 2021, Orange agreed to sell part of its fixed fiber to the home (FTTH)
business in France to a consortium of three investors for about 1.3 billion euros ($1.58 billion).
The buyers – La Banque des Territoires, part of France’s state-owned bank Caisse des Depots; insurer
CNP Assurances; and EDF Invest consortium – agreed to purchase 50 percent of Orange Concessions. The
entity covers about 4.5 million FTTH plugs in rural France.

In November 2020, the firm agreed to buy a 54 percent stake in Telekom Romania Communications from
Deutsche Telekom’s OTE. Orange will pay OTE 268 million euros (nearly $319 million) for the controlling
stake in Romania’s second largest fixed telecom provider.

 

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