Orange (UK)

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Orange UK
Type Brand name
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1993 (by Hutchison Telecom)
Headquarters Bristol, England, UK
Area served United Kingdom
Key people Olaf Swantee (Chief Executive)
Tony Harris (Tech Support)
Products Mobile telecommunications products and services
Revenue €5,108 million (2009)[1]
Parent EE
Website www.orange.co.uk

Orange is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, which launched in 1993. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom (now Orange S.A.) in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities. Orange UK has since merged with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK to form a joint venture, EE. Orange UK has over 17 million customers through its mobile and former broadband services.[2]

History

Background: 1990-1994

The inception of Orange brand was in 1990 in United Kingdom with the formation of "Microtel Communications Ltd"[3] - a consortium initially formed by Pactel Corporation (American), British Aerospace, Millicom and Matra (French);[4] and later, to be wholly owned by BAe.[5] In July 1991, the Hong Kong based conglomerate - Hutchison Whampoa through a stock swap deal with BAe, acquired a controlling stake of 65% in Microtel, who by then had won a license to develop a Personal communications network (PCN) network in United Kingdom.[4][5] As per the stock swap deal, BAe was given a 30% stake in Hutchison Telecommunications (UK) Ltd.

Launch of Orange and expansion: 1994-1999

Hutchison renamed Microtel to Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd; and on 28 April 1994, 'Orange' 1800-MHz GSM network was launched in the UK mobile network market. The Orange brand, at the time an unusual name for a telecommunications firm, was created by an internal team at Microtel headed by Chris Moss (Marketing Director) and supported by Martin Keogh, Rob Furness and Ian Pond. The brand consultancy Wolff Olins was charged with designing the brand values and logo and advertising agency WCRS created the Orange slogan "The future's bright, the future's Orange".

A holding company structure was adopted in 1995 with the establishment of Orange plc. In April 1996, Orange went public and floated on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ,[6] majority owned by Hutchison (48.22%),[7][8] followed by BAe (21.1%).[6] In June 1996, it became the youngest company to enter the FTSE 100, valued at £2.4 billion. And by July 1997 Orange had gained one million customers.

Acquisition of Orange and part of France Télécom: 1999-2009

The stint as a public company came to an end in October 1999, when it was acquired for US$33 Billion by the German conglomerate Mannesmann AG.[9][10] Mannesmann's acquisition of Orange triggered Vodafone to make a hostile takeover bid for the German company. Shortly thereafter, in February 2000, Vodafone acquired Mannesmann for US$183 Billion and decided to divest Orange as the EU regulations wouldn't allow it to hold two mobile licences.[11] In May 2000, France Télécom announced the acquisition of the global operations of Orange from Vodafone for US$37 Billion, and the transaction was completed in August 2000.[12][13][14][15]

France Télécom subsequently rebranded all its mobile telecommunications as Orange. The company was initially 100% owned by France Télécom (although there were and still remain minority investors in some of the national operating companies). In 2001 15% was sold in an IPO, but in 2003 the outstanding shares were bought back by France Télécom.

Merger with T-Mobile UK: 2009-present

On September 8, 2009 France Télécom 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.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18]

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.[19]

On 1 April 2010 Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom 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.[20] 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 EE.[21] Orange's broadband service was rebranded as EE Broadband on 30 October 2012.[22]

Services

Orange and T-Mobile shops in Leeds in 2009. The two have since been re-branded as EE stores.

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, 6, 12, 18 or 24 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. The 18 and 24 month contracts usually come bundled with a free phone, whereas the 30 day, 6 month and 12 month plans tend to be 'SIM Only' i.e. the customer provides their own phone. SIM Only plans usually have more minutes and texts than their full phone contract equivalent, as there is no phone cost to factor in.

Orange UK operates a GPRS, EDGE, 3G and 4G 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.[23] In 2009, Orange UK decided to outsource its mobile network. Therefore, in March 2009, Nokia Siemens Networks was chosen to manage, plan, expand, optimise and provide maintenance services for the Orange UK 2G/3G mobile network for the next five years.[24]

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 Télécom, 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.[25] 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 (up to £15 off full price per month for Orange mobile customers in an Orange Broadband network area - the prices quoted in Orange publications include these discounts). Orange now offers 'triple-play' services converging mobile, landline and DSL broadband. Orange UK on its highest broadband service used to offer a Livebox which integrates VoIP technology as well as WiFi, but in more recent times, this has router has been replaced by a Netgear router. 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, Racoon 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 and Sense (a sharer plan). 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, Monkey 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, offers an "Internet Everywhere" tariff on pay as you go, pay monthly and business plans. The tariffs names for pay monthly were aligned with the animals theme in May 2010 and Orange now offers both Dolphin and Racoon plans for internet use available on both 1 month and 12 month contracts. In August 2011, the price plans were revised, and names changed to Small, Medium, and Large. Similar to with home broadband, Orange mobile customers receive a £5 discount on their mobile broadband plan. The business plans remained as "Business Everywhere". The 12 month plans come with a USB modem (or dongle) for free. The customer is required to pay a small price for the dongle on the 1 month plans. A portable WiFi dongle can also be purchased, dubbed "Mobile WiFi". The service operates across the network's EDGE, 3G, HSDPA and HSUPA network and offers speeds of up to 3.6 Mbit/s. Orange announced in June 2008 that this speed would be increased to 7.2Mbit/s in the top 30 UK cities and 14.4 Mbit/s in the top 5 cities.[25]

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. Orange also has some concession stores in HMV branches across the UK.[citation needed]

In September 2012, Orange's parent company EE announced that all Orange and T-Mobile stores were to be re-branded as 'EE' stores by 30 October 2012, the launch date of their 4G network, offering products from all three brands of the company. After the re-brand there will be around 700 EE stores open in the UK.[citation needed]

Contracts and pay as you go phones with Orange are also available from other retailers, such as Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4u, Argos and smaller independent mobile phone dealers, operating either in physical retail, online, through call centres or even supermarkets.[citation needed]

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. These ads are officially known as "Orange Gold Spots". 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, Jack Black, 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." After five years, Orange changed advertising agencies and replaced the fictional Orange Film Funding Board with adverts in which the characters now run a film studio, remaking classic films with incongruous mobile phone references inserted.

In April 2010, Gold Spots featuring specific forthcoming films replaced the Orange Film Funding Board parodies. The new adverts, promoting specific movies released by 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Vertigo Films and Nu Image feature the stars of the movie filming scenes in-character of crassly incongruous Orange product placement, before breaking character to complain. The first advert featured the cast of The A-Team, followed by a spot starring Jack Black in Gulliver's Travels, followed by a spot Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway in Rio, followed by a spot in Potiche, followed by a spot inThe Muppets followed by a spot in The Expendables 2 Followed by a spot in The Sweeney.

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 Orange Wednesdays promotion also allows Orange customers a 2 for 1 main courses with complimentary appetizers at PizzaExpress restaurants. Both the cinema ticket and meal offers require only a text ticket from Orange, which is entered at point of purchase.[26]

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.[27]

Orange also has many other lucrative partnerships through its parent company to promote the Orange brand throughout the world. It is reputed that over the 9 year period, Orange has sold 550,000 tickets.

Slogans

In 2008, Orange's slogan, "The future's bright – the future's Orange" was dropped after many years by its CEO Tom Alexander in a bid to save its ailing fortunes.[28]

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.[citation needed]

Controversies

Broadband dissatisfaction

On 21 March 2007, Watchdog, a television series by the BBC focusing on consumer protection, published the results from a Broadband survey they held. According to the survey, Orange had the highest customer dissatisfaction rating.[29]

Data protection

In 2007 Orange was found to be in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after complaints from customers about the use of their personal information Orange has since agreed to reinforce the requirements of the Act.[30][31] The company was also criticised in the press for its handling of personal data, following complaints of Orange customer data being used by independent mobile sales companies in the practice of slamming. Orange denied any involvement.[32]

Billing issues

In 2013, Orange incorrectly charged a couple £163,000 for using their phone, and refused to clear the bill for seven months.[33] In September 2013, an Orange customer inadvertently ran up a bill of over £20,000 while traveling in Turkey. The company offered to reduce the charge to £900 but the woman has threatened legal action over the bill.[34]

Orange are the only non-virtual UK mobile network operator to increase the cost of a contract, during the contract period, by a percentage figure.[citation needed] (Vodafone have rounded up to the nearest 50p in the past[35])

Further Price increase (2013)

In March 2013, Orange and T-Mobile (now merged as EE) again signalled their intention to increase the agreed tariffs of existing pay monthly customers.[36] Clause 4.3.1 has now changed to disallow the customer from cancelling their contract if "we give you written notice to increase the Charges (as a percentage) by an amount equal to or less than the percentage increase in the All Items Index of Retail Prices or any other statistical measure of inflation published by any government body authorised to publish measures of inflation from time to time, and published on a date as close as reasonably possible before the date on which we send you written notice".[37] This led to many customers using the change of clause to cancel their mobile phone contracts with Orange.[38]

Price increase (2011)

In December 2011, Orange sent a text to its customer base to notify them that they were increasing monthly contract fees by just below RPI rates.[39] They imposed a 4.34% increase, coming into effect on the 8th January.[40] Customers reacted angrily by phoning customer services, tweeting, facebooking and making comments throughout the web. OFCOM and CISAS are both yet to investigate (Dec 22, 2011).

It was identified that the clause that supposedly allowed Orange to increase by inflation mid-contract, clause 4.3.1, was flawed as it referenced a Statistical Office which no longer exists. Specifically, Orange referenced "the All Items Index of Retail Prices published by the Central Statistical Office in the Monthly Digest of Statistics". The complete Terms and Conditions are available here and here. Orange maintain that their inaccurate wording in previous contracts was legally binding but chose to settle all known court cases brought against them on this issue.[41]

Attempted Price increase (2009)

In August 2009, Orange attempted to increase the cost of its services to customers already under contract.[42] Users were informed that legally, they were allowed to cancel their contract, as this was a breach of contract. Orange reverted their decision, and the price hikes did not go ahead.[42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "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. ↑ "Orange SA profile". ide.go.jp. 20 November 2000. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "History of Cellular services". licensing.ofcom.org.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Facts : 2004". na.baesystems.com. p. 107. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "BAe's record-breaking sterling Eurobond issue". 22 June 1999. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Hutchison Whampoa Releases Annual Results 1996". 26 March 1996. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  8. ↑ "Telecommunications - Hutchison Whampoa". 1996. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  9. ↑ "Mannesmann to buy UK cellular firm; Vodafone, Hutchinson likely to react". CNN. 21 October 1999. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  10. ↑ "Mannesman to buy Orange for $33bn". New York Times. 21 October 1999. Retrieved 26 December 2008. 
  11. ↑ "Vodafone seals Mannesmann merger". BBC. 11 February 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2008. 
  12. ↑ "Orange's bright future". BBC. 8 January 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  13. ↑ "France Telecom buys Orange for $37 bn". Financial Express. 30 May 2000. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  14. ↑ "France Telecom clinches Orange deal". BBC. 30 May 2000. Retrieved 9 June 2012. 
  15. ↑ "France Télécom to buy Orange for £25.1bn". London: The Independent. 2000-05-30. Retrieved 2008-12-26. 
  16. ↑ "T-Mobile and Orange in UK merger". BBC News. 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-10-14. 
  17. ↑ 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
  18. ↑ "Orange and T-Mobile deal 'threatens competition'". BBC News. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010. 
  19. ↑ "Orange and T-Mobile cleared for mobile merger by EU". BBC News. 1 March 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010. 
  20. ↑ Kameka, Andrew (2010-04-01). "T-Mobile UK and Orange UK complete merger". Androinica. Retrieved 2013-02-13. 
  21. ↑ Lees, Martina (2010-05-11). "Orange and T-Mobile merges as 'Everything Everywhere'". Daily Mail (London). 
  22. ↑ "EE Home Broadband - Frequently Asked Questions". T-Mobile. Retrieved 2013-02-13. 
  23. ↑ "Orange Coverage Data". Orange PCS. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-03-13. 
  24. ↑ "T-Mobile, Orange UK merger raises more questions than answers". 2009-09-17. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Wray, Richard (2006-05-25). "Orange responds to talktalk with its own 'free' broadband offer". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-03-13. 
  26. ↑ "2 for 1 pizza, every Wednesday". Orange. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  27. ↑ "Orange Music Bursary". Orange PCS. 2006-05-25. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 
  28. ↑ http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/the-future-is-no-longer-orange-379451
  29. ↑ "BBC Watchdog Broadband Survey". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
  30. ↑ "Orange and Littlewoods in breach of DPA". VNU. 2007-06-22. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-06-23. 
  31. ↑ /2007/orange_and_littlewoods_undertakings_110607_final.pdf "Orange and Littlewoods in breach of the Data Protection Act" (PDF) (Press release). Information Commissioner's Office. 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007-06-23. 
  32. ↑ Brignall, Miles (2007-06-23). "Orange slammed as users see red". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-06-23. 
  33. ↑ "Couple's £163,000 mobile phone bill shock". BBC News. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-07-10. 
  34. ↑ http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2295747/woman-gets-gbp20k-orange-bill-for-facebook-uploads-from-turkey
  35. ↑ "About our monthly plans". Vodafone Community Manager. 2011-09-06. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  36. ↑ "Orange and T-Mobile pay-monthly customers to be hit with price increase". The Guardian. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-03-09. 
  37. ↑ Pay Monthly Terms - Terms and conditions for the supply of Orange Network Services, EverythingEverywhere, 2012-10-31, retrieved 2013-03-09 
  38. ↑ "Beating Orange's price rises for existing customers". Tom Forth. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2013-04-29. 
  39. ↑ "Orange customers hit with 4% bill for New Year - and users have no choice but to pay". This Is Money. 2011-12-02. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  40. ↑ An Increase to your monthly price plan, Orange, 2011-12-02, retrieved 2011-12-22 
  41. ↑ Trying to beat the Orange price rise for EXISTING customers, Thomas Forth, 2012-01-30, retrieved 2013-03-09 
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 "Cancelling your Orange contract – a troubleshooting guide". BitterWallet. 2009-07-29. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 

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