Orange maps TV future
March 18, 2015
Orange has unveiled ‘Essentials2020’ – its new strategic plan to 2020, building on the Conquests 2015 five year plan launched in 2010.
Orange says it will leverage five main drivers: Offering richer connectivity; Reinventing the customer relationship; Building a people-oriented and digital employer model; Accompanying the transformation of enterprise customers; and Diversifying by capitalizing on its assets. All this will be achieved within the framework of a company that is efficient, responsible and digitally proficient.
Stephane Richard, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “With the launch of Essentials2020, we are writing a new page in Orange’s history. This five-year strategic plan is focused firmly on our customers. Our ambition is based on a strong commitment to provide them with an unmatched experience on a daily basis. Our customers must be able to benefit from the digital revolution with absolute confidence, with service of exemplary quality wherever they might be.
This strategic ambition is backed by a new Orange brand experience, with themes that express what is essential in customers’ lives. The new role of the Orange brand will guide all of the Group’s actions and also inspire its internal culture: listening and then going straight to what is essential.
Orange intends to offer richer connectivity in each of the markets in which the Group is active. To maintain its position as a high-speed broadband leader, Orange will invest more than 15 billion euros in its networks from 2015 to 2018.
In France, Orange will triple its investments in fiber by 2020 and increase the number of connected homes from 3.6 million at the end of 2014 to 12 million in 2018 and to 20 million in 2022.
In Spain, the Group will continue to expand its fiber network and its TV offering with the aim of doubling convergent revenues by 2018. The proposal to acquire Jazztel, which is currently being examined by the European Commission, will enable the Group to reinforce and accelerate this strategy that aims to reach 10 million connectable homes by the end of 2016.
In Poland, Orange started 2015 with an ambitious plan to deploy its own fiber network that aims to reinforce its position as the incumbent operator and market leader in terms of fixed line access and convergence.
In Belgium, a market characterized by strong cable coverage, Orange will test the use of this technology through the launch of a TV offering in 2015 that will be significantly different from existing market offerings.
In Europe, the ambition is to have more than 95 percent 4G coverage across the Group’s footprint in 2018. In France, Orange will launch Voice over WiFi in 2015, with immediate benefits to the customer in terms of indoor coverage.
In Africa and the Middle East, Orange will continue to invest significantly in territorial coverage, with a particular emphasis on the continued deployment broadband networks. 4G will be launched in seven countries in 2015 and in the majority of countries in that region by 2018. At the same time, the Group will continue to offer affordable smartphones that are customized within the Orange environment.
Orange will also continue to modernize its infrastructure with the aim of ensuring the Group has a cutting-edge network armed with the necessary flexibility and agility that will allow it to respond rapidly to customers’ needs. The Group will drive the evolution of its network towards all-IP, the cloud and the virtualisation of network functions, as well as preparing for the introduction of 5G.
The Group will build on the quality of its networks, particularly in very high-speed broadband, to develop uses and deliver what the customer wants by offering a multi-screen experience with richer content. This is already the case with the Group’s new TV interface, Polaris. Thanks to the TV stick, which was recently launched in Romania and will soon be introduced to the French market – Orange customers can access Orange TV and related content at home simply by connecting the HDMI stick to their television sets.”