Orange – France

Orange is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 in the world.

Orange is facing an unprecedented shift of the internet traffic from wired to wireless mobile networks, notably due to the massive use of telework in the present context. Orange issued explicit recommendations to their customers to use WIFI over 4G, seeking to ensure connection stability and to limit CO2 emissions.

The company is actively dealing with the challenge to guarantee the continuity of its network, which comprises its availability, quality, integrity and security. In order to keep on properly functioning under the present constraints,  Orange deployed its special “plan de continuité d’activité” (PCA) to allow for the minimum services to be maintained and to safeguard the sustainability of networks, crucial in times of crisis.

Today, the supply chain – in terms of network equipment and customers services – has not yet largely suffered from the major shift in network utilization. Nonetheless, a crisis unit has been gathered around the CEO of Orange in order to adapt the enterprises’ response on a day to day basis.

Orange also started a series of initiatives to support the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, with the following initiatives:

• Health: In its latest solidarity initiative, the Orange Foundation is contributing to the fight against COVID-19 by allocating an emergency fund €650,000 to three major French partners working on the front line of this crisis: the Paris Hospitals Foundation – Hospitals of France, the Red Cross and the AP-HP Foundation (Public Assistance – Paris Hospitals). And an emergency fund of €8 million for international actions, in the hands of our local Orange Foundations. Read more here.
• Connectivity: In the context of this unprecedented situation, Orange is fully mobilised in its role as a service provider. Around the world, whether to stay in touch with loved ones, work from home or continue to communicate whatever the circumstances, our customers can count on our network and teams working on the front line to ensure continuity of service for all their necessary solutions. Read more here.
• Data and privacy: Since the start of the epidemic, data has been used to help governments limit the spread of the virus. In Europe, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Thierry Breton has, along with the scientific research community, been calling on telecoms operators to join the effort. Data is an extremely valuable tool for anticipating the spread of the virus. In France, Orange acted very early on to support medical research while fully respecting personal data privacy.  Read more here.
• Community and workers: The whole world is now affected by the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. As an operator in 26 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and with a presence in more than 200 countries, we are doing everything we can to support our customers and colleagues, staying true to our Human Inside philosophy and purpose. We’re also working on the front line in many countries to ensure technology continues to benefit as many people as possible. Our commitment: do our absolute best in this emergency situation to support governments, health services, hospitals, parents and school children, fellow citizens and businesses. Read more here.
• Global help: As part of efforts to contain the Covid-19 epidemic, Orange has allocated an additional three million euros to the Orange Foundation. This special fund will be used to support a variety of healthcare and preventive initiatives, and to provide essential supplies in all countries in which the Group is present. The decision to allocate this additional funding was taken by Orange’s Executive Committee and supplements contributions of five million euros already committed by Orange Foundations in countries in Europe and the Africa and Middle East region. Read more here.

Website: www.orange.fr/