2007

Helsinki and Paris, Dec. 4, 2007

 

 

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland has selected Orange Business Services to provide international IP VPN infrastructure and manage its IP services. The five-year, 9 million euro contract includes 97 Finnish missions in about 60 countries.

 

The contract resulted from an open, comprehensive bidding competition; all of the most important Finnish and global vendors participated in bidding. Orange Business Services will provide full operation, maintenance and project management services in all the countries where the Ministry has locations. Orange Business Services is able to meet the Ministry’s demand to increase capacity of the network in the most cost-effective way. The deployment of business critical applications and meeting strict EU regulated security standards demands for more network capacity. The Business Everywhere™ solution of Orange Business Services enables remote access for about 1,500 employees.

 

”After a long, multi-phased competitive selection process, we are looking forward to cooperating with Orange Business Services, the provider with clearly the best offering,” said Ari Uusikartano, CIO of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. “Orange has proven to be a reliable partner to organizations that are similar to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland with offices in the countries that are very demanding for telecommunication services.”

 

”Orange Business Services has a strong position as a global provider of the ICT services for governmental organizations,” said Stefan Reijonen, Sales director, Orange Business Services Finland. ”Several ministries and governmental offices already rely on our services, including the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Norway and the Swedish Government Offices. Global coverage, high level of security, large capacity of the network and local support in 166 countries are the key factors to meet the requirements of these demanding governmental customers.”

 

Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. 

 

France Telecom serves more than 163 million customers in five continents (220 countries or territories) as of June 30, 2007, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 51.7 billion euros in 2006 (25.9 billion euros for the 1st semester of 2007).

 

Launched in June 2005, France Telecom’s 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.