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Orange UK

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Orange U.K.
Company typeBrand name
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1994 (by Hutchison Telecom)
HeadquartersBristol, England, UK
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Tom Alexander (Chief Executive)
ProductsMobile telecommunications products and services,
Broadband and internet products and services
Revenue€5,108 million (2009)[1]
ParentEverything Everywhere
Websitewww.orange.co.uk

Orange UK is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom, it has since merged with Deutsche Telekom's T Mobile UK to form a joint venture. Orange UK has over 17 million customers through its mobile and broadband services[2].

History

The Company was founded in 1994 by Hutchison Telecom and was bought by Mannesmann AG in October 1999.[3] Vodafone acquired Mannesman in February 2000[4] and, not being allowed to hold two mobile telephone licences in the UK, decided to sell Orange UK to France Télécom in May 2000.[5]

Merger with T-Mobile UK

On September 8, 2009 France Telecom's Orange and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom announced they were in advanced talks to merge their UK operations to create the largest mobile operator with 37% of the market. The long-term future of either brand is unclear though both would be retained for the first eighteen months at least.[6]

Consumer Focus and the Communications Consumer Panel sent a joint letter to the then Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes in December 2009 asking for the merger to be investigated by authorities in the United Kingdom, rather than Brussels.[7] The British Office of Fair Trading joined this call by asking the EU to allow it to investigate the proposed deal in February 2010, saying that it believed the merger could have a 'significant' effect on competition.[8] On 1 March 2010 the European Commission approved the merger, on the condition that the combined company sell 25% of the spectrum it owns on the 1800 MHz radio band and amend a network sharing agreement with smaller rival 3.[9] On 1 April 2010 Deutsche Telekom and France Telekom finalised the deal and completed the merger of their UK based operations, causing Orange UK and T-Mobile UK to cease to exist, although the brands will be maintained for at least 18 months.[10] On 11 May 2010 it was announced that both the Orange and T-Mobile brands will remain on British high streets, although their new merged parent company will be called Everything Everywhere.[11]

Services

Orange and T-Mobile shops in Leeds.

Orange UK currently offers two mobile phone packages; pay as you go and pay monthly service plans.

As with other prepaid plans, pay as you go mobile users are given the option to top-up their phone via a swipe card, over the internet, by voucher bought printed as a receipt from a till or via a credit or debit card.

The pay monthly service gives customers an option of 1, 18, 24 or 36 month contracts. The contracts come 'bundled' with minutes, text messages and within some contracts data and insurance services, additional charges can be incurred for Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) and Mobile Data services. Orange like other providers also offer SIM Only plans which require only a 30 day contract.

Orange UK operates a GPRS, EDGE and 3G service and is in the process of rolling out a HSDPA network. Orange's 2G network covers 99% of the UK population and has the largest integrated 3G/2.5G network in the UK, Orange claimed in 2008 it spent up to £1.5 million per day investing in its network[12]. In 2009, Orange UK decided to outsource its mobile network. Therefore, in March 2009, Nokia Siemens Networks [13] was chosen to manage, plan, expand, optimise and provide maintenance services for the Orange UK 2G/3G mobile network for the next five years.[14]

In addition to this Orange UK provides DSL services, under the same brand. Originally operated as Freeserve in the UK it was bought-out by France Telecom, rebranded as Wanadoo and on 1 June 2006 Wanadoo was rebranded Orange. When Orange launched its DSL broadband service it offered it for 'free', joining TalkTalk in the foray for market share[15]. The company has attempted to converge its mobile and DSL broadband products and like its competitors offers DSL broadband services alongside its mobile services, at a subsidized rate (Free broadband with speeds of up to 8mb with 10gb usage allowance for free if you take a mobile package with an 18 month contract, or "unlimited" with speeds of up to 8mb when you take a mobile contract at 18months or more). Orange now offers 'triple-play' services converging mobile, landline and DSL broadband. Orange UK on its highest broadband service offers a Livebox which integrates VoIP technology as well as wi-fi. It has been confirmed that Orange intends to launch a video on demand service through its DSL broadband service.

Price plans

In April 2006 Orange changed its contract offering by offering four packages to customers, each aimed at different lifestyles and differentiating its offering. Amid much amusement Orange changed the names of its packages to animals: Dolphin, Canary, Raccoon and Panther. On some plans there are unlimited minutes (to landlines or Orange UK mobiles), texts or data. In addition to this Orange offers dedicated business plans- Solo, Venture and Momentum. Orange also offers 'magic numbers'- unlimited free calls to other Orange UK mobiles on contract or "talk for an hour, pay for a minute" on PAYG (you will have to add it as your "magic number").

Later in April 2008 Orange extended its animals to Pay as you go customers, introducing Dolphin, Raccoon, Canary, Camel and Monkey. Dolphin and Canary offer bonuses, whilst Raccoon is a discounted call rate and Camel is for a call-abroad tariff giving discounted calls to foreign countries.

Orange like other mobile networks now offers an "Internet Everywhere" tariff on pay as you go, pay monthly and business plans. Pay monthly and business plans come with either a datacard or USB modem. It operates across the network's EDGE, 3G, HSDPA and HSUPA network and offers speeds of up to 3.6 Mbit/s. Orange has announced that this speed will be increased to 7.2Mbit/s in the top 30 UK cities and 14.4 Mbit/s in the top 5 cities, this will be rolled out over the next 18 months[15].

Also in April 2008 Orange UK introduced a new pricing structure on its broadband product. Customers who now connect to Orange must live in an LLU area (within the 'Orange network') or pay an increased tariff.

Orange shops

An Orange Shop in London, UK

Orange, like its competitors operates a retail estate, with over 300 stores. These are branded as "The Orange Shop" and operate as an indirect sales channel. These retails stores are run independently from Orange.

Contracts and pay as you go phones with Orange are also available from other retailers, such as Carphone Warehouse, Phones4u, Argos and smaller independent mobile phone dealers, operating either in physical retail, online, through call centres or even supermarkets.

Orange were the first British mobile phone network whose products could be bought online, from the UK's first online mobile phone dealer Mobiles.co.uk[16].

Marketing

Orange Gold Spots

At most cinemas across the UK, advertisements for Orange are shown directly before the film, after the other adverts and film trailers. The adverts feature short sketches involving various celebrities including; Rob Lowe, Dennis Hopper, Macaulay Culkin, Val Kilmer, Mena Suvari, Michael Madsen, Steven Seagal, Sean Astin, Patrick Swayze, Carrie Fisher, Roy Scheider, Spike Lee, John Cleese, Anjelica Huston, Alan Cumming, Verne Troyer, Daryl Hannah, Ewan McGregor, Snoop Dogg, Darth Vader, Emilio Estevez, Juliette Lewis, Sigourney Weaver and Danny Glover, The A-Team. Throughout the sketch, a pair of fictional Orange executives, played by Brennan Brown and Steve Furst, manipulate an idea into film which promotes Orange through product placement, despite the product being completely 'out-of-place' (a mobile phone in a Western Film is one example); the catch line is "Don't let a mobile phone ruin your movie. Please switch it off." These ads are officially known as "Orange Gold Spots".

In addition to this Orange has offered "Orange Wednesdays" since 2003. This enables any Orange customer be they pay as you go, pay monthly or an internet customer able to apply for 2 for 1 cinema tickets at participating cinemas, by text message. This was a result of Orange attempting to increase cinema visits during the quiet weekly periods. The advertising campaign features the American Brennan Brown and English Steve Furst as megalomaniac and sarcastic film executives. Celebrities such as John Cleese, Carrie Fisher, Steven Seagal, Michael Madsen and Patrick Swayze have also appeared in the advertisements. The Orange Wednesdays promotion also allows Orange customers a 2 for 1 entrées with complimentary appetizers at PizzaExpress restaurants. Both the cinema ticket and meal offers require a printed voucher and a text ticket from Orange.[17]

Sponsorship

In spirit with Orange's commitment to cinema Orange sponsors the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards which includes an award in its own name- the Orange Rising Star Award.

Orange UK has also shown a commitment to music which has included partnering with the Glastonbury Festival to provide mobile charging facilities and offers a music bursary[18].

Orange also has many other lucrative partnerships through its parent company France Télécom to promote the Orange brand throughout the world.

Slogans

Orange's previous slogan, "The future's bright – the future's Orange" was used for many years and became extremely well known, so much so that in its later years the second half of the slogan tended to be dropped as unnecessary.[citation needed]

Since July 2008 "I am"' has become the main slogan, shortened from "I am who I am because of everyone", however subsidiary slogans will be used to describe the company's products and services, for example "I am more focus, less fuzz" is used to describe the Samsung Soul handset.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Consolidated Financial Statements- France Télécom SA" (PDF). France Télécom SA. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  2. ^ "About Orange UK". Orange PCS. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  3. ^ "Mannesman to buy Orange for $33bn". New York Times. 1999-10-21. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  4. ^ "Vodafone seals Mannesmann merger". BBC News Online. BBC. 2000-02-03. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  5. ^ "France Télécom to buy Orange for £25.1bn". London: The Independent. 2000-05-30. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  6. ^ "T-Mobile and Orange in UK merger". BBC News. 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
  7. ^ Co-signed letter to European Competition Commissioner in relation to joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile Consumer Focus/Communications Consumer Panel. 21 December 2009
  8. ^ "Orange and T-Mobile deal 'threatens competition'". BBC News. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  9. ^ "Orange and T-Mobile cleared for mobile merger by EU". BBC News. 1 March 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  10. ^ http://androinica.com/2010/04/01/t-mobile-uk-and-orange-uk-complete-merger/
  11. ^ Lees, Martina (2010-05-11). "Orange and T-Mobile merges as 'Everything Everywhere'". Daily Mail. London.
  12. ^ "Orange Coverage Data". Orange PCS. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  13. ^ "Nokia dials in to Workwear Express". 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  14. ^ "T-Mobile, Orange UK merger raises more questions than answers". 2009-09-17.
  15. ^ a b Wray, Richard (2006-05-25). "Orange responds to talktalk with its own 'free' broadband offer". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-03-13. Cite error: The named reference "ICO4" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ "About Us- Mobiles.co.uk". Mobiles.co.uk. 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  17. ^ "2 for 1 pizza, every Wednesday". Orange. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  18. ^ "Orange Music Bursary". Orange PCS. 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2008-03-24. [dead link‍]

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