France Telecom debuted its new Orange brand, uniting its Wanadoo Internet, IPTV and Orange mobile services. 
The new label is aimed at delivering a unique and simplified customer experience, based on a joint portal, unified customer service, shared customer loyalty program and renovated high street shops in France. It also marks a strategic step in the company’s NeXT strategy to transform itself into a nimble provider of next-generation products and services.
The Orange brand will now include all the Group’s activities worldwide, except for traditional telephony offers, which will retain the France Telecom brand in France and the incumbent operator’s where relevant.
The France Telecom Group itself is now symbolized by the ampersand, while the Orange brand represents the offerings and services to consumers and businesses. 
Key facets of the Orange re-branding include:
- a single portal, www.orange.fr, to access the brand’s Internet and mobile universe, for news, entertainment and communication;
- A single invoice for the various services. The tag “Wanadoo becomes Orange” will be placed on the Internet invoice for several months, to prevent any confusion for customers;
- A unified customer service, 3900, for streamlined management of the customer’s relations with the Group;
- A shared customer loyalty program beginning this fall, to reward the loyalty of all fixed-line, mobile and Internet customers.
- Fixed Mobile Convergence via “Unik”, a 2-in-1 telephone that at home connects automatically to the Livebox via WiFi and all calls become unlimited, 24-by-7. Away from home, Unik operates like a traditional mobile phone. Unik requires an Orange Broadband subscription, a Livebox, and a special terminal (starting at EUR 99). It will be available in September, 2006.
- Orange Optimales, “all included” packages with a switched line, the 8 MégaMax broadband Internet service, digital TV and 24-by-7 call plans.
- High Definition Voice for Livebox customers: unlimited IP calls with unequaled sound quality.
- High Definition ADSL Television for “HD Ready” TV owners.
- Unlimited TV-on-mobile packages, with the TV, Totale TV and Sport options.
- In the UK, “Free Orange Broadband” for Orange mobile pay monthly customers. Orange consumers signing up to a new pay monthly mobile contract with a talk plan over £30 will benefit from free broadband. There is no connection fee and the broadband package – worth £17.99 a month – includes up-to-8-meg broadband, an Orange Livebox (wireless modem), and Orange Wireless & Talk – Orange’s Internet phone service which offers free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines. The UK service also offers the promise of one email, one address book, one portal for mobile, fixed-line and broadband; cheaper calls to Orange mobiles through new “Anytime” broadband talk service; and a roadmap of future Orange interconnected services.
“This is a great day for France Telecom, but particularly for our customers, who will begin to discover a new digital world driven by openness and simplicity,” announced Didier Lombard, Chairman and CEO of France Telecom. “The new Orange, brought by a new France Telecom, embodies the efforts we have made over the last year to move toward greater convergence and give our customers the opportunity to enhance and simplify their daily lives, both at home and at work.”http://www.francetelecom.com
- As of 31-March-2006, France Telecom was serving 8.1 million ADSL customers in Europe, representing an increase of 10% since 31-Dec-2005. This includes 4.9 million ADSL customers in France, representing a consumer ADSL market share of 49.8% in France.
The number of ADSL TV subscribers reached 229,000 at quarter’s end, up from 102,000 a year earlier.
France Telecom also reached 1.2 million VoIP customers in France, up by 377,000 for the quarter.
The number of LiveBox gateways marketed in Europe surged to 2.4 million (2.1 million in France), up from 489,000 a year earlier.
