70% of French companies now have access to dedicated fiber networks (FTTO) from Orange Business Services

Paris

• Available in 3,500 French communes today and in 4,000 communes by the end of 2011

Orange Business Services has today announced its aim to extend the reach of its FTTO (Fiber to the Office) network, which provides businesses with access to dedicated fiber-based services. This extension is possible thanks to the investments that have already been carried out to upgrade the network in France over the past few years. As part of the Group’s overall strategic plan, Conquests 2015, providing its business customers with access to very high broadband networks is a priority for Orange Business Services.

Currently available as a standardized catalog offer in 3,500 communes, “Fiber for Business” (Fibre Entreprise) will be available in 4,000 communes by the end of the year. This means that over 70% of French businesses with at least 20 employees will be able to benefit from the service. By connecting businesses to a fiber network, Orange Business Services is providing easier access to its entire range of network-based services (Business Ethernet, Business VPN and Business Internet).

“Bringing very high-speed access to businesses has been a central part of our strategy for many years,” said Vivek Badrinath, Executive Vice President of Orange Business Services. “With the development of new uses and the introduction of new devices, ramping up capacity is a priority for our business customers. The flexibility gained when speeds are increased from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps, together with our commitment to the levels of security and availability that businesses require, will enable our customers to benefit from the full range of new IP services – cloud computing, video conferencing, etc. – and will provide them with an exceptional experience free of all capacity constraints.”

need for speed driven by new uses
Businesses want to optimize their productivity while improving the quality of the work environment for their employees. The increased speed offered by Orange’s Fiber for Business service will not only make existing uses faster, it will also facilitate the growth of new uses including:
video: image integration into collaborative work tools, telepresence rooms, expanded business solutions requiring very high quality real-time video images, such as telemedicine
e-learning and other applications in the field of education
applications related to cloud computing, where access time and data updates are critical

Beyond these new uses, businesses want to streamline their spending: there is a real trend towards concentrating computing and administrative sites, and this requires dedicated rather than pooled fiber connections.
Based on a dedicated infrastructure, FTTO-based offers are able to meet the specific needs of businesses and are accompanied by a strong commitment in terms of quality of service (with guaranteed network speed), availability (with service restoration in less than four hours in the case of network failure) and security.

About Orange
France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with 170,000 employees worldwide, including 102,000 employees in France, and sales of 22.6 billion euros in the first semester 2011. Present in 35 countries, the Group had a customer base of 217.3 million customers at 30 June 2011, including 143 million customers under the Orange brand, the Group’s single brand for internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. At 30 June 2011, the Group had 158.3 million mobile customers and 14 million broadband internet (ADSL, fibre) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

With its industrial project, “conquests 2015”, Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group’s ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.