Inauguration of the Cairo Orange Labs
Paris, January 3, 2008
In Cairo today, Didier Lombard, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom Orange Group, in the presence of Tarek Kamel, the Egyptian Communications and Information Minister, inaugurated the Group's 18 th Orange Labs around the world.
The creation of the Cairo Orange Labs allows France Telecom Group to expand its presence in Egypt, a country where France Telecom is present since 1998 through Mobinil and Orange Business Services. France Telecom is the main shareholder of Mobinil, which is the first mobile operator in Egypt with more than 14 million customers. Orange Business Services, dedicated to communication services to multinational companies has 1500 engineers in Cairo and is serving approximately 150 multinational companies, as well as around 50 airlines. With the new Cairo Orange Labs, the Group now has 18 Orange Labs around the world.
The Cairo Orange Labs, in collaboration with the global Orange Labs network, enhances the Group's capacity to deliver innovative services to its customers, especially in the Middle East Africa region. The Cairo Orange Labs is also a unique opportunity to create partnerships with the local ecosystem.
The main research and development work will focus on the following subjects:
Development of global solutions for the Group
Ergonomics for products and services on the multinational business market and the local retail market
Voice services and content access in Arabic
Usages and services for the region
Research into local uses
Network solutions set against specific economic and environmental constraints
By the end of 2008, the Cairo Orange Labs will employ 50 people, with over 90% Egyptians.
In order to integrate this new Orange Labs into the local ecosystem, the laboratories have been set up to the west of Cairo, in the "Smart Village" technology hub, which is home to various companies from the IT and telecoms sector as well as various public organizations (Telecommunications Ministry, National Telecommunications Institute, etc.).
About Orange Labs
The network of Orange Labs represents the France Telecom Orange Group's global innovation network.
It is made up of 5,000 employees (researchers, marketers, etc.) on four continents. In addition to the Paris Technocenter and Explocenter and the eight R&D laboratories in France (Issy les Moulineaux, Belfort, Caen, Grenoble, Lannion, La Turbie, Rennes and Sophia Antipolis), there are eight R&D laboratories in Peking, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Madrid, Warsaw, Boston and San Francisco, a new center in Cairo, Egypt (scheduled to open on January 3, 2008) and a Technocenter in Amman, Jordan (scheduled to open at the end of February 2008). In this way, each Orange Labs is fully integrated into its own regional ecosystem, enabling it to harness and anticipate technological advances and changes in uses worldwide. The international Orange Labs network reflects the Group's ambition to put innovation at the heart of its strategy, firmly focused on its clients.
About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves more than 167 million customers in five continents as of September 30, 2007, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 51.7 billion euros in 2006 and 39.4 billion euros for the first nine months of 2007. At September 30, 2007 the group had 106.9 million mobile customers and 11.4 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers.
Launched in June 2005, the NExT program (New Experience in Telecommunications) will enable the Group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator and make France Telecom the benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates, and Orange Business Services the banner for services offered to businesses worldwide. France Telecom is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband internet services in Europe and one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.
