very concrete achievements

very High Speed pilots for the deployment of fibre in France and Slovakia
Announced by Didier Lombard in 2006, the choice of fibre to the home illustrates France Telecom's strategy to offer the best technology in France and worldwide. With FTTH (Fibre To The Home), we have the certainty of new usage prospects and innovative services for our customers.
After several months' experiments in Slovakia and France, our Group has decided on the preliminary commercialisation of the first general public optic fibre offerings.
• in France
after a successful pilot phase in certain areas of Paris (3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 13th and 16th districts) and nearby suburbs (Asnières sur Seine, Boulogne Billancourt, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Rueil-Malmaison and Villeneuve la Garenne), Orange is starting its pre-roll out deployment phase this summer in certain districts of Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse and Poitiers. The offering is also being extended to take in other districts of Paris and areas in the Paris region.
Orange has devised a modular offering to test its customers' preferences in this pre-roll out  phase. In addition to the basic offering(1) each customer can take out options according to his tastes and wishes. (high-definition TV, multi-screen TV or symmetrical 100 Mb).
Orange is targeting 150,000 to 200,000 connected customers in France, from a base of over one million connectable customers by the end of 2008.  The total investment for the period 2007-2008 is estimated at 270 million euros.

• in Slovakia
the triple play concept, consisting of offering a trio of services (Internet, TV and fixed telephony) has been successfully tested under the Orange Homebox service brand. The objective of the France Telecom subsidiary, Orange Slovensko, is to roll out the densest national network of residential fibre connections in the country on a large scale. Orange will therefore be investing 32 million euros to cover close to 200,000 homes in 10 Slovak cities by the end of 2007.
For the development of a very high speed mass market, the equipment and service and content operators and providers sector will have to be adapted. The France Telecom Group estimates that it will take at least two years for this movement to be completed and for very high speed to become a mass general public market.

(1) the basic offering : "Fibre includes a very high speed Internet access, in receive mode (up to 100Mb) and send mode (up to 10Mb), digital TV and unlimited telephone calls. It also offers a dedicated, fully personalisable Orange portal, with access to TV channels, numerous videos and services to share self-produced content with the greatest of ease (videos, photos, etc.).

 

mobile high-speed panorama
Mobile high-speed, via 3G, 3G+ or HSDPA (1), is becoming part of the daily life of an increasing number of customers. It opens up a universe of services, such as games, music, video or services for companies. Downloading is very fast, with excellent image quality and new visual comfort.
In France, Mobile High-Speed and multimedia usage is booming. This development is backed by extended mobile High-Speed coverage. At the end of 2006, 60% of the French population was covered for 3G and, for extended 3G/Edge coverage, the rate has been increased to 95% (2). The launch of 3G+ in November 2006 enables high-definition TV to be proposed on mobile handsets.
The Group's success in the various countries in zones in Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia is notably based on the quality of networks.
To achieve high-quality mobile efficiency, High-Speed has been deployed in most networks.
GPRS/Edge(3) has been launched in Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Moldavia and the Dominican Republic. Third-generation mobile networks (3G or UMTS) (4) have been put into service in the Netherlands, Slovakia and Romania. In Switzerland, 3G technology is now available for prepaid customers. In Belgium, Slovakia and Romania, 3G+ (HSDPA standard) offers a faster speed on mobiles.

 

(1) HSDPA  High Speed Downlink Packet Access. A protocol for mobile telephony, also called 3.5G or 3G+. Due to enhanced software, it offers a performance ten times better than 3G technology (UMTS). It supports high speed in packet mode in the downlink direction.
(2) Edge Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution. Intermediate solution between GPRS (2.5G network) and UMTS (3G).
(3) GPRS Global Packet Radio Service. This upgrade to standard GSM adds a packet system to the GSM radio circuit, enabling the exchange of data. GPRS, or 2.5G network, allows speeds of around 40K bps to be obtained in optimum conditions.
(4) UMTS Universal MobileTelecommunications System. A third-generation (3G) wireless communication standard.