Paris and Miami, February 3, 2009

 

In anticipation of growing business demand, Orange Business Services has increased the capacity of its next generation IP network in Latin America by two and a half times. The expanded network capacity has been implemented in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. Additional upgrades are planned for Honduras and Panama in 2009. In addition, Orange is deploying new leading-edge network equipment to offer new services, such as Multicast, Telepresence and Network Boost, a network-based application performance management solution.

 

Latin America is a key market for us, and we are seeing an increase in global expansion by both our multinational and our Latin American customers,”   said Javier Semerene, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Latin America, Orange Business Services. “With our new infrastructure enhancements, we can deliver even more redundancy and new advanced services to ensure a world-class customer experience.”

 

In addition to network services – via its regional network with 160 points-of-presence (PoPs) across 31 countries – Orange offers integration and professional services and has more than 500 customer service and operations professionals at its major Customer Service Center based in Brazil. As a single source provider, Orange is uniquely able to provide true global end-to-end services with reporting and SLAs that are measurable and meaningful to its clients’ businesses. In Latin America, as well as around the world, Orange is able to manage all facets of customers’ communications needs, including deployment, installation, on-site maintenance and service management.

 

With sales offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, Orange Business Services counts Belcorp, Cargill, Cementos BIO BIO, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and PROSA among its customers in Latin America.

 

 

Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves more than 177 million customers in five continents as of September 30, 2008, of which two-thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 52.9 billion euros in 2007 and 39.9 billion euros for the nine first months of 2008. As of September 30, 2008, the Group had 117.6 million mobile customers and 12.4 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 (compartiment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.