registration document France Telecom 2009 - Orange.com

overview of the Group’s Business
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OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS
Enterprise Communication Services
■ Conversely, IT service companies are investing in the
telecommunications sector by offering their customers IT
solutions that include Telecommunications (especially cloud
computing offers from companies like IBM, HP, and Cisco).
France Telecom’s main competitors in the Business market are:
■ telecommunications operators:
■ SFR Business Team, which offers companies a range of
fi xed, mobile and Internet solutions,
■ a lternative local loop operators, such as COLT Telecom and
Numericable-Completel. These network operators work in
the voice services and data transmission market in France,
serving multinational corporations and SMEs. They can
provide their customers with network access, either through
local loop unbundling or through alternative local loops,
■ g lobal telecommunications service operators, such as BT
Global Services, AT&T Business Services, Verizon Business
and T-Systems offer multinational customers services with a
strong network and data component. These operators offer
a comprehensive range of data transmission services to
supplement their more traditional voice services. In France,
where their clientele is highly targeted, they are able to carry
local, national and international long-distance calls by using
the France Telecom network interconnection services,
■ o perators from emerging countries, such as Reliance
Globalcom and Tata Communications, which mainly target
MNCs in Asia but also more widely located MNCs with large
IP network needs. For these companies, they set up hybrid
solutions based on their own networks and combined
with third-party operators’ solutions that they manage
themselves,
■ n ational voice and data transmission operators: in some
countries, France Telecom is also in competition with the
incumbent operators. Some of these operators still have a
special regulatory status and enjoy exclusive rights to supply
specifi c services. Most of them have historically dominated
their local telecommunications market;
■ Network integrators and managed service providers which
are present in the network related services market, which is
close to that of telecommunications and IT. In this fi eld, France
Telecom is confronted with “coopetition,” or cooperative
competition from multi-suppliers such as Telindus (Belgacom
Group), NextiraOne, Spie Communication and Dimension
Data;
■ companies specializing in the roll-out and supply of
managed services and systems integrators, which meet
businesses’ needs for simplicity in the face of increasingly
complex technologies. France Telecom, which is focusing
on assisting its customers in moving their communications
systems toward IP, competes with companies such as IBM
Global Services, HP Enterprise Services and Atos Origin.
The principal service categories in which these companies
are positioned include network integration, outsourcing,
third-party application maintenance (TPAM), consulting and
engineering, and infrastructure management;
■ fi nally, players from the Internet world are working with
business customers to offer VoIP services or cloud computing
solutions, as in the case of Salesforce and Amazon. Cloud
computing, which stores data applications in remote data
centers, is having signifi cant impact on the way different
players are presenting their know-how. Top Internet players
such as Google, Amazon and Salesforce are developing online
services available at low cost on the Internet . In the same
way, major software suppliers are offering their applications
online as services. Finally, top IT integrators are also offering
their infrastructure services as services through virtual servers
and storage. Faced with these changes, Orange Business
Services is continuing to invest in its own network to support
all these applications, and it is also providing infrastructure
services, virtualization services and ‘real-time’ applications as
services.
In this highly competitive context, Orange Business Services
is setting itself apart by its international scope and the
development of its IP services network . As well, Orange
Business Services continues to expand its capacity to offer
innovative services in emerging countries and sets itself apart
also through its willingness to offer the best quality of service
and customer experience. This position earned it the title of
“Best Global Operator” at the World Communications Awards
in November 2009 for the 4 th consecutive year.
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2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / FRANCE TELECOM
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