20 Mar 2012Orange

Orange is a subsidiary of France Telecom. Besides being a major mobile phone company, it operates as an ISP in the UK and other European countries. It acquired Freeserve in 2001, and re-branded it as Wanadoo in the UK on 28 April 2004.

In May 2006, the company re-branded again by uniting its Wanadoo Internet and IPTV and Orange mobile services under the Orange name. The move was to enable the operator to offer its services on the basis of a joint portal, shared customer loyalty program and unified customer service. It also hoped to provide a fillip to the company’s strategy to upgrade to a next-generation network.

The change failed to add dynamism to Orange's broadband business however and its subscriber numbers actually fell in early 2008. Orange is one of the LLU operators which charge extra to subscribers falling outside the "Orange Region" - its LLU footprint.

On 5 November 2009, Orange and T Mobile merged their mobile segments to form a joint venture between the UK operations of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. This agreement will enable the companies to deliver high quality mobile services to customers. On 1 March 2010, the two companies obtained official approval from the European Commission for the merger. The merger was completed on 1 April 2010.