Equant no more
NetworkWorld.com, 05/31/06
Well just the name anyway.
France Telecom announced today that it is change the name of its multinational service provider from Equant to Orange Business Services.
Check out our coverage of the announcement for more details.
At first glance you might say, huh? But it makes sense. Well it makes the most sense if you’re in Europe.
France Telecom acquired European wireless service provider Orange back in 2000. It’s a well-known company and brand in the U.K. and throughout Europe.
They’re combining their sales teams so business users will deal with a single point of contact for all of their wireline and wireless services needs. That’s great. Similar to what Sprint Nextel is doing here in the U.S.
But for Equant, now Orange Business Services’ customers, it’s really mostly a marketing change today. Orange doesn’t offer wireless services in the U.S. But Equant did ink a deal with Cingular Wireless back in November to resell its services to its multinational customers.
That may help simplify service acquisition for some domestic users, but unless Equant, now Orange Business Services, is offering some great volume discounts or some other added benefits, its not clear why a user wouldn’t just buy services directly from Cingular.
Oh yeah, and Cingular will soon be fully integrated into AT&T after AT&T closes its acquisition of BellSouth. Wonder if Orange or AT&T will offer a better combo deal on multinational data and wireless services?
-Denise Pappalardo (denisep@nww.com)
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