Telecom Lead Europe: Orange will invest in MVNOs and e-commerce sites that sell telecoms-related equipment or airtime.
As part of its plans to expand network, Orange launched a new subsidiary — Orange Horizons — to seek new business opportunities in countries where the Group is not already present.
The first of these projects has already been launched in South Africa under the Orange Horizons banner.
This comprises two websites: firstly an e-commerce website, store.orange.com/za, has been launched to sell telecoms-related devices and accessories. This is combined with a country website, orange.com/za, which provides online content tailored for a South African audience including news feeds, sports news and audiovisual content.
In Italy, it opened store.orange.com/it. These two existing online stores offer telecoms and electronic equipment, and will soon offer telecoms services including airtime for Orange customers visiting from other countries.
The Group’s footprint currently covers around 10 percent of the world’s population, leaving 6.2 billion people.
The Group plans to launch business ventures in several other countries in 2013 in Europe and Africa, and will look at opportunities in South America to leverage content-related assets such as starMedia, a South American internet portal.
It will invest in over-the-top country websites that aim to leverage existing assets such as the Group’s two pan-continental web-portals StarAfrica (Africa) and starMedia (South America), or content-providers such as Deezer and DailyMotion;
Orange will assist in the introduction of multi-country travel solutions – data offers using WiFi or VoIP – aimed in particular at professionals or tourists coming from countries in which Orange is already present.
“Due to traditional migratory flows or cultural and professional ties, there are many countries where Orange is already very well-known despite not having an operational presence. We think there is strong potential to create a new source of revenues in these countries by leveraging awareness of the brand to propose very simple mass-market offers,” said Elie Girard, senior executive vice president of Strategy and International Development, Orange.
