Orange has confirmed a deal with fixed line provider Unicom, which will sell its SIM-only MVNO offer into its base of 80,000 customers, providing billing for both fixed and mobile services on the same invoice.

It is also working with regional provider Axis Telecom, which is to provide a number of SIM-only deals to its regional base of 14,000 businesses and residential customers.

As well, niche operative Catalyst will provide mobile services through partners for groups such as students, ethnic minorities and SMEs.

All new MVNO deals are products of its relationship with mobile virtual network aggregator (MVNA) Transatel, with which it has set up a partner platform to enable swift establishment of such projects on its network. All are expected to launch shortly.

Orange already has MVNO deals with Mobinet, Lycamobile and IDT Mobile, and also national roaming agreements with 3 and Cable&Wireless in the UK.

Source: Mobile News

The joint venture between France Telecom’s Orange UK and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK is planning to start trading in April, and will be Britain’s largest mobile operator.

British consumer groups reacted angrily to the European Commission’s decision to approve the merger on the fastest possible timetable, accusing Brussels of clearing the transaction with “indecent haste”.

The merger could also destabilise a UK government-sponsored effort to end a dispute between Britain’s mobile operators over their ownership of radio spectrum.

O2, Telefónica’s UK subsidiary, and Vodafone’s British business are not planning a challenge to the Commission’s decision.

O2 and Vodafone, the UK’s largest and second- largest operators, are instead expected to intensify efforts to poach customers from the new market leader.

Orange and T-Mobile, the third- and fourth-largest operators, are attempting an ambitious integration that is supposed to provide cost savings of £3.5bn.

The operators are planning to rationalise their networks and retail shops, and cut staff.

Tom Alexander, chief executive designate of the combined Orange/T-Mobile entity, expressed confidence that the integration would run smoothly and insisted the transaction was “great news” for consumers.

The merger will cut the number of British network operators from five to four, and consumer groups had called on UK competition authorities to investigate the transaction.

Which?, the consumer magazine and campaigns organisation, accused the Commission of failing to protect consumers’ interests.

Brussels’ decision to approve the merger is conditional on the combined Orange/T-Mobile entity having an infrastructure-sharing agreement with 3, the UK’s smallest network operator owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa.

The Commission said 3’s viability could be threatened if it did not have a network-sharing deal with the joint venture that would save costs.

Source: Financial Times

The new joint venture will create the UK’s leading mobile operator. It will have a combined mobile customer base of around 28.4 million, representing approximately 37 percent of UK mobile subscribers*, based on figures at end December 2008. By integrating Orange’s broadband activities, the joint venture will also have the capabilities to offer convergent solutions to its customers in the future. The business will have pro forma 2008 revenues of approximately € 9.4 billion (£7.7 billion) and EBITDA of € 2.1 billion (£1.7 billion) **.

This combination will bring substantial benefits to UK consumers. It will result in expanded network coverage and enhanced indoor and outdoor network quality for 2G and 3G services, as well as better customer proximity through a larger network of own shops and improved customer services. The combination will place the joint venture in a better position to invest in innovative new services and to exploit new technologies. The new enlarged business will also be able to compete more effectively with the other two large mobile operators in the

market.

The key areas for the opex synergies of the joint venture are:

- Network & IT: Large-scale site rationalisation leading to significant savings

notably in site rental expenses, network operations and maintenance

expenses

- Distribution and Marketing: Higher proportion of sales through own shops,

resulting in lower distribution costs; a reduction in the combined number of

stores and savings in marketing costs primarily post roll-out of a new branding

strategy

- Other cost savings: Potential to reduce general and administration costs;

eliminate duplication in core support functions; optimise the workforce notably

in customer service, network and G&A operations

To achieve these opex synergies, the joint venture would expect to invest £600 to

£800 million in integration costs over the period from 2010 to 2014. Those costs

would primarily relate to the decommissioning of mobile sites, the rationalisation of the network of retail stores and the streamlining of operations.

· On the capex side, large scale savings are expected over the first five years following completion of the transaction, resulting from the integration and unification of the networks and from jointly expanding 3G coverage. The potential for capital expenditure savings, net of integration capex, is estimated at £620 million on a cumulative basis over 2010-2014, prior to stabilising at approximately £100 million a year from 2015 onwards.

These benefits will result in significantly improved operational performance, with long term EBITDA margin expected to be superior to those of the current market leaders thanks to size effects and with capex efficiency expected to be best in class.

To create the new joint venture, Deutsche Telekom would contribute T-Mobile UK on a cashfree, debt-free basis, including T-Mobile UK’s 50 percent holding in its 3G network joint venture with Hutchison and gross tax losses carried forward of at least £1.5 billion. France Telecom would contribute the whole of Orange UK including £1.25 billion of intra-group net debt in order to equalize the value of the contributions to the joint venture. Immediately after closing Deutsche Telekom would grant a £625 million shareholder loan to the joint venture, which would be used to simultaneously reimburse £625 million to France Telecom. As a result, the joint venture would have indebtedness of £1.25 billion, represented by two

shareholder loans of £625 million held by each of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.

The Board of the new joint venture company will have balanced representation from Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. The management team would be led by Tom Alexander, currently CEO of Orange UK, as CEO and Richard Moat, currently CEO of TMobile UK, as COO. The governance of the joint venture would attribute extensive operational decision-making to the management team.

The T-Mobile UK and Orange UK brands will be maintained separately for 18 months after completion of the transaction. During that period management will review branding alternatives for the joint venture and will develop a new branding strategy recommendation for shareholder approval.

This transaction is expected to create substantial value for both shareholders and to be accretive from 2010 in terms of free cash-flow per share and from 2011 in terms of earnings per share. Both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom would recognise their respective interest in the joint venture using the equity method after closing. It is planned that the joint venture will distribute 90 percent of its free cash flow to its two shareholders.

Prior to the signing, which is expected to be end of October, both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom will undertake confirmatory due diligence and will complete the definitive documentation. The final agreement is subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom and the Board of Directors of France Telecom, and the completion of an agreed transaction would be conditional on approval by the relevant competition authorities.

Source: T-Mobile Press Release

René Obermann, DT’s chief executive, said the UK business had to do better, and he is to appoint new management. “We feel the UK market is competitive, and consolidation would do good for that market,” he said.

Mr Obermann emphasised he was not commenting about possible deal-making, but his statement was seized upon by analysts as evidence DT might sell its UK business.

DT’s leading shareholders – the German government and Blackstone, the private equity group – are beginning to lose patience with the underperforming UK business. DT is expected to take a €1.8bn writedown on the UK asset next week.

The most logical buyer would be one of its British rivals, because consolidation ought to enhance the profitability of the remaining companies.

The UK is the only important European market to have five network operators – Telefónica’s O2, Vodafone, France Telecom’s Orange, T-Mobile and 3 – and they periodically engage in price wars.

Possible buyer for T-Mobile UK business could be France Telekom, which already owns Orange UK mobile operator. An Orange-T-Mobile tie-up would command a 40 per cent share of revenue paid by British mobile users. That figure includes Virgin Mobile’s customers, because the company uses T-Mobile UK’s network to offer phone services.

The campaign is the next evolution of the ‘I am’ campaign and reinforces the importance of relationships, underpinning Orange’s ‘Together We Can Do More’ vision.

Justin Billingsley, Director of Brand Marketing, Orange UK said: “Orange Wednesdays has been a huge success for us over the last five years. The campaign brings to life what Orange Wednesdays has delivered for millions of our customers: the enjoyment of sharing a trip to the cinema with friends. Our customers love us for this, so this campaign is about reminding customers about Orange Wednesdays and making sure that all our customers, whether they are Pay Monthly, Pay As You Go or Broadband, take advantage of this great deal.”

The above-the-line campaign follows the successful re-launch of Orange’s film portal last week which puts Orange Wednesday at the heart of the new film site. The new film portal, designed by the internal team, Poke and IMP Media not only lets you organise your Orange Wednesdays but is a great place to go to check out film trailers, news stories, celebrity interviews and peer reviews on the hottest new films. The site also offers opportunities for advertisers who want to align their brand with film. www.orange.co.uk/film

Orange has also signed a deal with PizzaExpress to offer Orange Wednesdays customers the chance to get a 2-for-1 deal at PizzaExpress for the next 6 months. All you need to do is simply text ‘film’ to 241 from your Orange mobile to get your cinema tickets, then head to orange.co.uk/orangewednesdays to download your PizzaExpress 2 for 1 meal deal voucher – including a choice of either free garlic bread or dough balls.

Source: Orange Press Office

The move, which could be announced shortly, is expected to save Vodafone £1bn a year at a time when revenue in some European countries is being hit by competitive pressure. The agreement is expected to be viewed positively by the City and should be seen as a feather in the cap of new chief executive Vittorio Collao, who took over from Arun Sarin.

Orange and Vodafone already share the costs of running some aspects of their base stations, but the latest agreement goes much further and is expected to include integrating their 3G access networks and possibly a degree of collaboration in managing their international network coverage. Germany’s T-Mobile and Hong Kong-owned 3 recently signed a pact that will enable them to pool their 3G network services in Britain.

In the City, investors are nervous that Vodafone will be hit by the global slowdown, but there is little evidence of consumers cutting back on calls or texting.

Colao is seeking to cut costs at the company to the tune of £1bn by 2010-11 and wants to make Vodafone “simpler” and “faster”, to cope with rising economic, competitive and regulatory pressures. He said: “My ambition is to lead Vodafone in an industry I believe is still attractive, and to fully explore … Vodafone’s strong advantages in brand, scale and assets.”

Vodafone has announced changes to its dividend policy by abandoning the practice of paying out 60 per cent of earnings.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Orange had similar problems with the device in October and decided to stop shipping it. It had hoped the issues had been ironed out with a batch of software fixes, but the Bold is still confounding some customers.

The news will be a blow to the device’s maker, Research In Motion (RIM), which has also experienced problems with the Bold’s successor, the Storm.

After initial enthusiasm about the look and feel of the device – it is RIM’s first full touchscreen phone – the Storm has faced a barrage of criticism because of a number of software glitches that make it painfully slow to execute certain tasks that other smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone, carry out with ease.

Complaints include the phone’s built-in camera taking far too long to focus, poor sound quality and the overall slowness of the device. The problems were summed up succinctly by Stephen Fry, a self-­confessed gadget freak. “Been playing with the BB Storm,” he wrote on the social-networking service Twitter. “Shockingly bad. I mean embarrassingly awful. Such a disappointment. Rushed out unfinished. What a pity. iPhone killer? Ha!”

The phone was produced in co-­operation with Vodafone, which has exclusive rights to supply it to its customers. The mobile phone operator missed out on the exclusive deal to stock the iPhone in the US and the key European markets of the UK, France and Germany to bitter rivals AT&T, O2, Orange and T-Mobile, and is hoping the Storm will give it a much-needed boost in the fight for high-end gadget-obsessed customers.

But the Storm is proving a headache. Vodafone’s US joint venture, Verizon Wireless, has already been forced to issue a number of software patches for the device. The fact that the earlier device, the Bold, is still experiencing problems does not bode well for a swift turnaround in the fortunes of the Storm.

There is also talk that RIM is planning a touchscreen variant of the BlackBerry Bold with rumours that the phone – code-named Pluto – could be revealed in the first half of this year.

A spokesman for Orange refused to comment. RIM, meanwhile, produced a joint official statement saying: “The BlackBerry Bold 9000 smartphone is available to Orange customers both in-store and online via its website.”

Source Guardian.co.uk

	Samsung U900 Pink with 16GB memory card. Offer valid on all pay monthly plans till 5th December 2008.	Visit website and buy
	The LG KF300 flip phone with free Sony PSP, available free on 18 and 24 months plans. Offer valid till 6th December 2008.	Visit website and buy
	This ultra slim W880i WalkmanTM phone is only £68 on pay as you go.You need to top up £10, offer valid until 7th December 2008	Visit website and buy

Other Christmas offers that are coming soon from Orange are:

Motorola E8 for £98

Nokia 6301 + free iPod Nano (on selected plans)

Samsung G600 + free iPod Touch 8GB (on selected plans)

Service offers customers SIM-only pre-paid service bundles with all customer interaction conducted in the customers’ native language, which includes Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Slovak and English.

Rochus Schreiber, Managing Director of GlobalCell said: “We are delighted to work with Orange – a partner with strong customer focus. Our goal is to make life for our subscribers easier by offering different types of services in their native language. With support from Orange we deliver a new customer experience for Eastern Europeans in the UK.”

Marc Overton continued, “With the broadest 3G coverage and the largest integrated mobile data network of all the operators, our network is one of our greatest assets and will receive continued investment to ensure it remains the best in the UK.”

Following the recent reorganisation of the Orange UK business, announced by Tom Alexander in June 2008, the New Business, Wholesale and Strategy team, led by Vice-President Marc Overton has strengthened its New Business team with the appointment of Stephen Harris.

As Business Development Director, Stephen will be responsible for finding new MVNO business as well as identifying other new business opportunities that are complimentary to the Orange brand and which drive new revenue opportunities. Stephen has been with Orange for 3 years, and was previously the Commercial Pricing Director. He joins Marc Overton’s team to sit alongside Keith Greenfield, Director of Wholesale, who is responsible for P&L performance of the MVNO business, Roaming and Interconnection.

Overton further commented: “The company has very ambitious plans to grow and evolve into new and exciting areas. Our new team is set up to ensure that as a company Orange has a dedicated focus on the many new and exciting commercial opportunities that exist for the Orange brand.”

Orange Press Release via  Cellular-News.

Also 100 existing Orange outlets will be refurbished, new and refurbished stores will be based on the innovative design of Cardiff’s flagship city centre shop, following its success since the opening last year. The stores will be designed to enhance the shopping experience, display our full product range from mobiles to laptops and to improve customer service, with a clean, stylish look and feel and open floor space.

Orange is hoping to enhance shopping experience of it’s potential customers and improve customer service. New store layouts will include private consultation areas for customers, with PCs and screens to connect people to the information they need, as well as phones for calling customer services for free.
Orange has also kick started its trial which will bring new customer service hubs into retail so that staff can resolve customers issues in-store. In addition, the shops will be fitted with easy to read signage and a new black exterior will ensure instant brand recognition.

Source Orange Press Release.