Orange (telecommunications)
Orange S. A. was an international telecommunications company. It emerged from the former British Orange plc, acquired in 2000 by France Telecom, incorporated into the newly founded by French law group of companies, and later was the only brand of the company. Since July 2013, France Télécom operates itself as Orange.
History
Creation and expansion
1994 Orange plc became a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa founded ( as the controlling shareholder ) and British Aerospace and rose as the fourth mobile operator by BT Cellnet (now O ₂), Vodafone and One2One (now T -Mobile UK) in the UK mobile market. In 1996 the company went public. From the late 1990s, Orange plc began to invest heavily abroad, especially in Asia, which the company was the second largest international mobile network. From 1999 to 2002, Orange was a sponsor of the Formula 1 teams Arrows.
Mannesmann
As of 1999, Vodafone was trying to take over the German conglomerate Mannesmann AG, which the former Mannesmann Board to Klaus Esser strictly rejected. As a defensive measure Mannesmann therefore decided to abruptly take over Orange plc as a poison pill. This Mannesmann to Vodafone should be unattractive, because it was clear that Vodafone Orange would have had to sell after a Mannesmann takeover with great losses.
The Mannesmann AG Orange plc for 19.8 billion pounds (about 60 billion German marks) acquired end-December 1999.
Nevertheless, it came to the acquisition of Mannesmann by Vodafone, and Vodafone had in 2000 - as expected - sell from antitrust reasons Orange plc; The buyer was the France Télécom. End of May 2000 was sold for 26.9 billion pounds (about 84 billion German Mark ) from Vodafone, France Telecom Orange. Since the takeover led France Telecom Orange plc with their own mobile networks ( particularly in Africa) under the umbrella of the newly incorporated under French law Orange SA together and since then uses orange as a brand in all its mobile networks.
Brand extension
France Telecom plans to use the brand "Orange" in the future for internet and business services, instead of their old name Wanadoo and Equant. In June 2006, France Telecom replaced the previous mark " Equant " by "Orange Business Services". In the commercial register, the company " Equant " in Germany was initially continued, now Orange Business Germany GmbH, but the customers are served since June 2006 under the brand name "Orange Business Services". It has not changed except the name. In Germany Orange Business consists of approximately 300 employees (as of August 13, 2012 ).
In Spain, the former independent brands " Wanadoo " and " Amena " were merged into "Orange" from autumn 2006 (2005 acquired by France Telecom ). The relevant advertising campaign (Green) was completely on the replacement of the previous recognition of Wanadoo colors ( red) and Amena turned off by the color orange.
International Activities
In addition to the self- established networks in the UK ( introduced in a joint venture with Deutsche Telekom ) and France (founded by France Telecom under the name Itineris ) holds Orange shares in subsidiaries in many parts of the world, namely
- Armenia: 100% Orange
- Réunion: 100% Orange
- Spain: 99.3 % of Orange
- Romania: 96.8 % of Orange
- Dominican Republic: 86 % of Orange
- Ivory Coast: 85 % of Orange
- Cameroon: 70 % of Orange
- Slovakia: 64 % of Orange
- Moldova: 61 % of Orange
- Uganda: 53.0 % of Orange
- Botswana: 51% of Orange
- Jordan: 51% of Orange ( Jordan Telecom shares over )
- Belgium: 50.6 % at Mobistar
- Luxembourg: 50.6 % of Orange ( Shares through Mobistar )
- UK: 50 % of Everything Everywhere, a joint venture with Deutsche Telekom
- Tunisia: 49% of Orange
- Senegal: 42.2 % of Sonatel Mali Guinea -Bissau - Sonatel
- The eh 100 % stake in Switzerland (including cooperation in Liechtenstein ) no longer exists, since France Telecom had made the default to be present only in those markets where they would be # 1 or 2. As a result, Sunrise was trying to take over what the antitrust authority but not approved. After this failed merger attempt was repelled Orange CH 29 February 2012, and 100% is now being continued by the Company " Matterhorn Mobile SA ", which in turn is subject to Apax Partners.
- The eh 35 % stake in Austria Orange Austria no longer exists (Mid Europa Partners held 65 % of "3" ( Hutchison Whampoa ), the brand "Orange" has disappeared from Austria )
- ( Historic ) Logos, the subsidiaries
France ( historical )
Netherlands ( historical )
Austria ( historical )
United Kingdom ( currently )
Poland ( historical )
Slovakia ( historical )
Spain ( historical )
In October 2008, Orange has acquired a 53 percent stake in Hits Telecom Uganda. In Uganda, there are 7.4 million mobile customers, representing a market share of 25 percent. Orange plans to invest over the next three years, about 375 million dollars in network expansion. France Telecom said on April 11, 2009, to intend to increase the proportion of orange at the Sonatel ( Société Nationale des Télécommunications du Senegal) for 209 million euros from 42.3 to 52.2 percent. Sonatel had the end of 2008 about 3.8 million customers in Senegel and approximately 3.4 million customers in Mali and Guinea- Bissau.
In Israel, the Orange brand under license by Partner Communications Company Ltd.. utilized. So Orange Israel does not belong to the Orange Group, France Telecom. In addition, the Orange brand continued to be used in Australia and Hong Kong by Hutchison Whampoa until some time ago. In these countries, however, " 3" changed to the well-known mobile phone brand, as most customers already use there UMTS.
Participation in Denmark (formerly Mobilix ) was established in 2004 for 600 million euros at Telia, participation in the Netherlands (formerly Dutchtone, later Orange NL) was sold for 1.3 billion euros to T-Mobile 2007.
In November 2009, Orange ( Switzerland ) announced that it will merge with the Swiss subsidiary Sunrise TDC, said Orange would hold a majority of 75 % of the new company. The market share would double in order to approximately 37%. On 22 April 2010, the Competition Commission (Comco ) prohibited the merger. The reason the dominant position in the mobile market was called to the merged entity together with Swisscom. In addition, the most active in the market network operators would be eliminated from the market. Instead, it was announced on 24 December 2011 that Orange Switzerland is sold for 1.6 billion euros to the British private equity firm Apax Partners.
Orange has been a sponsor of the 2010 African Cup of Nations.