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Orange

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FY2019 Annual Report · Orange
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2019 Integrated Annual Report

3

2019 Integrated 
Annual Report

4

Orange

The people at Orange 
working to respond to Covid-19

The Coronavirus health crisis has meant Orange has had to act 
fast and fulfil its responsibility to ensure unprecedented service 
availability for people to ensure they can stay in touch with their 
friends and family, access news and continue to work wherever 
possible to mitigate business and economic impacts. Everyone 
should be able to count on network reliability everywhere in the 
world during this major peak in connectivity. This technical feat 
is only possible thanks to the commitment of Orange teams 
working day in, day out to maintain ties between communities, 
businesses, the public sector and healthcare workers.

Responding to the health emergency

a In France and around the world, we support healthcare providers who need 
reliable and effective technology to respond to this situation. Orange was called upon by 
hospitals to roll out solutions to help manage the crisis, such as alert and call systems to 
simultaneously mobilise care workers. In order to safeguard hospital data, Orange 
Cyberdefense offered its expertise free of charge to assist the medical community in 
preventing cyberattacks, which unfortunately have multiplied. We also encourage our 
entire Group to develop emergency solutions, whether on a small or large scale, and 
whether digital or material. The Orange Digital Center in Tunisia, in collaboration with the 
Ministry for Health, is leading around 40 Solidarity FabLabs to use digital technology to 
produce 20,000 approved plastic face shields for healthcare professionals, which have 
been distributed to local hospitals.

Maintaining service continuity

a The Group is working to enable all its business customers to continue 
operations throughout the world. Orange Business Services has increased the capacity 
of its networks and platforms to support the surge in secure connections, facilitate the 
widespread implementation of remote working and scale up customer service 
capabilities (including contact numbers, voice guides, chatbots, call centres and 
multi-channel messages) to handle the rising number of calls. A total of nearly 
3,500 employees are working to maintain customers’ critical and essential operations 
out in the field as well as in our monitoring centres and data centres, which are vital to 
ensure the availability, security and integrity of our networks.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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Coping with life in lockdown  

a During the lockdown period, all our entities are offering free extras to enable 

our customers to maintain ties with their family and friends. For example, Orange 
France has offered an additional 10GB of data to its 16 million Orange and Sosh 
mobile subscribers.

We have also made 20 pay-TV channels available free of charge to all customers 
who own an Orange TV set-top box. To allow children to continue following the school 
curriculum as best they can, we have opened up our educational content for free and 
are supporting teachers throughout the world with our Digitaliada learning management 
system in Romania, webinars for teachers in Poland as well as free mobile connectivity 
to access a range of school and university content in Africa and the Middle East. Elderly 
people are the most at risk not only from Covid-19, but also the isolation inevitably 
caused by the lockdown. That’s why we have donated a number of adapted devices 
(mobiles, tablets and SIM cards) to hospitals, healthcare facilities and nursing homes to 
enable patients and residents to stay in touch with their loved ones. In France, we have 
also launched the #OnResteEnsemble initiative to allow everyone, whether or not they 
are Orange customers, to send short video clips to their parents, grandparents and 
friends during the ad breaks on France’s main TV channels.

Supporting public authorities

a In line with our Human Inside philosophy, we have conducted a significant 

number of community initiatives in our operating countries. Orange has donated  
€8 million to support initiatives in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to prevent, protect 
and care for patients as well as provide essential equipment such as masks, hand gel, 
gloves, glasses and gowns. In France, the Minister for the Economy and Finance 
enlisted Orange to set up an emergency number for struggling businesses in record 
time. Because the lockdown can unfortunately lead to a rise in domestic violence, our 
teams have also developed a solution to allow the telephone operators working for 
France’s 3919 domestic violence helpline to continue handling calls from their homes. 
Furthermore, we have worked in collaboration with Inserm, the French National Institute 
of Health and Medical Research, to introduce a system to collect and analyse 
anonymous data to study the correlation between the lockdown measures introduced 
and the spread of the virus in order to anticipate ongoing waves of infection.

Rising to the challenge

a We have set up a crisis unit reporting directly to Stéphane Richard and each 

day the Executive Committee monitors the measures taken and action put in place. Our 
VPN servers continue to enable our 100,000 employees throughout the world to work 
from home.

And, above all else, we are paying special attention to the health and safety of our 

people working in the field by implementing extra protective hygiene and prevention 
measures in line with the latest health and government recommendations. 

 
6

Orange
Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report 

7 

Summary 

Our purpose as seen by our stakeholders 
Orange at a glance 
Editorial by Stéphane Richard 
Engage 2025 strategic plan 
A business model focused on creating and sharing value 
Considerations, risks and opportunities 
Governance 
2019 highlights 

Commitment 

Promoting digital equality 
Combating climate change 

Ambitions 

Reinventing our operator model 
Accelerating in growth areas 
Placing data and AI at the heart of our innovation model 
Co-creating a future-facing company 

Performance 

Financial and non-fnancial results 
Performance in 2019 
Social and economic impact 
Risk management 
Mission accomplished for Essentials2020 

—P.08 
—P.26 
—P.28 
—P.32 
—P.34 
—P.38 
—P.40 
—P.49 

—P.56 
—P.60 

—P.68 
—P.76 
—P.84 
—P.90 

—P.100 
—P.106 
—P.108 
—P.110 
—P.114 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8

Orange

An unprecedented, 
collaborative effort

Our purpose highlights the role our company plays in society. By 
incorporating it into our bylaws, we are setting those words in 
stone to guide the company’s decisions and build trust with all 
stakeholders. 

a The approval of the Group’s purpose, submitted to the Shareholders’ Meeting 

on 19 May 2020, and its subsequent integration into Orange’s bylaws, marked the 
completion of the collaborative project launched by Chairman and Chief Executive 
Officer Stéphane Richard at the 2019 Shareholders’ Meeting. In the summer of 2019, 
we began the process of putting our collective vision into words by consulting Group 
employees. In this context, Stéphane Richard posted a question on Twitter that 
attracted more than 15,000 comments and proposals from employees in a month. A 
consultation phase followed at the end of August, during which 130,000 votes were 
collected via a multilingual mobile app developed by the start-up Toguna. The Group 
CSR Department organised two events with a number of think tanks and opinion 
leaders, as it has done to discuss key issues over the past six years, while the Executive 
Committee attended three half-day workshops on the Group’s purpose. The final stage 
involved one-on-one meetings with employee representatives, Board members, NGOs, 
think tanks, customers, authorities, sub-contractors and investors, building on the 
collaborative approach. This input helped develop the Group’s purpose, unveiled by 
Stéphane Richard on 10 December 2019: “As a trusted partner, Orange gives everyone 
the keys to a responsible digital world.”

The meaning behind Orange’s Purpose and its contribution 
to society

a Trust was mentioned by all of our stakeholders in the consultation process. 
This is a core strength and essential to setting us apart from other organisations in the 
digital sector. Orange provides the keys to digital autonomy and empowerment through 
technology while guaranteeing data protection. We offer these keys to everyone and 
everywhere, as Orange is committed to digital equality.

Finally, these keys grant people access to a responsible digital world. Our vision 
for digital technology is wholly positive and purposeful; we want digital technology to 
be more people-focused, more inclusive and more sustainable. More people-focused 
because technology should support relationships, whether social or business. More 
inclusive because technology should serve to connect everyone with the broader world 
in a way that reduces inequality. And more sustainable because technology should be 
designed to reduce its environmental impact and facilitate the emergence of a 
low-carbon world. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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We would like to thank 
our 10 stakeholders
— an Orange director, an 
Orange employee and 
representatives from an 
international organisation, a 
responsible investor, a 
non-profit organisation, a local 
authority, a think tank, as well 
as a journalist, a customer and 
a partner — who candidly 
shared their thoughts on our 
purpose and the expectations it 
raises.

10

Orange

“Once approved 
and integrated into 
the bylaws, the purpose 
will guide the Group’s 
strategic decisions.”

Charles-Henri Filippi 
Lead director of the Orange Board of Directors
(2008-2020)

a Prior to the enactment of France’s Action Plan for Business Growth and 

Transformation (PACTE) in 2019, Orange was already considering its contribution to 
society. Many of the Group’s stakeholders were pleased to see we were planning to 
define our purpose. Employees and customers alike maintain a strong attachment to 
Orange’s public service heritage and the tenets of trust, proximity, service quality and 
humanity in which its identity is rooted.

First as a member of the Audit Committee, then as Chairman of the Governance 

and Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility Committee, and now as lead 
director of the Board of Directors, I have witnessed the Group’s profound transformation 
over the past decade. Orange has made a number of crucial strategic decisions – 
investing heavily in infrastructure and service quality, deploying new value-added 
activities and streamlining global operations – and thereby restored the Group to its 
position as a market leader, set it back on a growth trajectory and earned back the trust 
of its stakeholders. In this way, Orange was able to both reconnect with its culture and 
transform it significantly in response to major shifts in society, always with the same 
priority to place people at the heart of its business.

Orange as a group understands its history and role in society while remaining 

firmly focused on the future. We listen to our various audiences and maintain constant 
dialogue with all of our stakeholders. It was with all this in mind that we constructed the 
purpose. We opened the development process to all stakeholders, which saw an 
unprecedented level of participation. In this, my last year on the Board of Directors, it 
was with great interest that I took part in the process and was delighted to see everyone 
buy into a shared vision of what Orange stands for.

Our purpose sets out a number of universal responsibilities as well as those 
specific to the nature and role of our Group in society. It acts as our compass at a time 
when humanity is facing so many environmental, health, demographic, technological 
and economic challenges. During the current global health crisis, the unwavering efforts 
of the teams at Orange enable everyone to remain connected to families, loved ones, 
work and lives. It goes beyond words and formal statements to demonstrate the reality 
of our commitment. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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12

Orange

“Digital technology 
is essential for 
growth in Africa.”

Fatoumata Sy 
Investigator with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis and Malaria

a In developing countries, especially in Africa, technology acts as an effective 

catalyst for social development, revolutionising healthcare in particular. Collecting data 
in real time enables public health bodies such as the WHO to deliver suitable and timely 
responses, even in the most hard-to-reach areas. Digital health opens access to quality 
healthcare, which in the past was only available in societies with the most 
comprehensive medical knowledge and effective systems. It’s also making the work of 
health professionals easier, in particular by raising awareness of major public health 
issues, such as vaccinations and smoking, supporting prevention, for example with 
health text-messaging programmes as with the current Covid-19 pandemic, and 
providing remote health services via telemedicine. Nonetheless, Africa still suffers from 
glaring inequalities in digital access. For example, 56% of people in South Africa use 
the internet compared with 1% of people in Eritrea. It is essential to reduce such 
inequalities and provide everyone with key digital services. 

The Orange group’s purpose “to give everyone the keys to a responsible digital 
world” targets all countries and all populations. In Orange’s 18 operating countries in 
the Middle East and Africa, the Group can set the example and lead a business 
strategy that’s people-focused and positions social development and the well-being of 
populations as a priority. By setting up ever-more international partnerships in both the 
public and private sectors, telecoms companies must spearhead the digital revolution 
and ensure it serves the common good. The 17 United Nations Sustainable 
Development Goals calling for global action in the areas of education, health, social 
inclusion and the environment will be impossible to achieve without universal access to 
powerful digital tools, and without these tools being distributed fairly across all 
populations. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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Orange

“We would approve 
of a clear and genuine 
commitment.”

Sabrina Ritossa Fernandez 
Analyst and ESG* Specialist at Sycomore AM, a responsible 
investor

a When it first came about, sustainable development was dealt with by separate 
teams of people within the marketing departments of major corporations. Over time, it 
has gradually come to be seen as a core strategic focus for business. Nowadays, to be 
virtuous, a company has to build its operations around its CSR objectives in the same 
way it does with financial performance. This approach is encouraged in France as 
businesses are now able to define and adopt a specific purpose. In 2019, many 
companies seized this opportunity to set out their ambition to benefit the common 
good. At Sycomore AM, a responsible investor, we closely assess these ambitions. We 
would approve of a clear and genuine commitment in line with the corporate strategy. 
A company’s purpose shouldn’t just pay lip service to a cause. Every decision, at every 
level of the company, must factor in their reason for being. It’s still too early to assess 
the impact of the measures put in place; we’ll have to wait five years before we can 
start drawing any kind of conclusions.

Orange’s purpose accurately reflects the language used and action taken by the 

Group over recent years. As a major telecoms operator, Orange has a leading role to 
play in society in two ways. As an internet access provider, it promotes inclusive 
internet access in all its operating countries as well as financial services, especially 
through Orange Money in Africa and the Middle East. Orange also acts as a safeguard 
in the digital world, guaranteeing individual freedoms on the web. To achieve its 
corporate strategy while offering the highest quality services at affordable prices, the 
Group must continue its efforts in innovation, cybersecurity and transparency. 

*ESG: environmental, social and governance criteria.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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“I made the decision to join the Group 12 years 
ago because the company is sincere about its 
promises. My own values and ethics were 
reflected in the way people work at Orange and 
are integrated into the Group’s very strategy. 
By defining its purpose, Orange is once 
again blazing a trail. In Spain, it’s a very innovative 
approach, and I’m sure businesses throughout the 
country will feel inclined to follow suit. 
I was part of a working group that helped define 
the purpose, and we felt it was really important to 
underline the responsibility Orange has as an 
international group towards its employees and the 
process to develop digital technology for its 
customers. We have a duty to make these tools 
accessible and teach everyone how to use them, 
especially children. We also believed that Orange’s 
purpose should include its efforts to combat 
climate change.”

Bénédicte Pluquin
Big Data Business Developer with Orange Wholesale Spain

16

Orange

“Building a better world 
for future generations.”

Lyes Bouabdallah
Chief Executive Officer at Positive Planet International, a French 
non-profit organisation that stimulates growth and fights poverty 
through entrepreneurship

a Many businesses still view the integration of social and environmental 
considerations as a constraint, when in reality it’s an opportunity to bring about 
long-term growth that benefits us all. By incorporating its purpose in its bylaws and 
making the Group accountable to people and the planet, Orange proves that it’s 
possible, maybe even necessary, to align financial profitability with social and 
environmental progress.

In this way, Orange’s purpose reflects our own values and strategy to support 

positive entrepreneurs looking to change the world. Orange’s purpose can only 
strengthen the long-standing relationship we’ve built by collaborating on major 
development projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.

Our two companies have been working together over many years to help female 

entrepreneurs in Africa, and more recently we’ve teamed up to promote and support 
companies in West Africa. We appreciate the Group’s genuine commitment to digital 
inclusion, its strong regional presence as a benchmark operator in West Africa and its 
innovative, socially-beneficial solutions such as Orange Money, which is why Orange 
is one of our main partners.

For example, our close partnership means we both support the French 
Development Agency for Inclusive and Digital Business in Africa programme 
(AFIDBA). Set up by the French Development Agency in 2019, the programme seeks 
to identify and accelerate 60 positive start-ups, helping them to flourish in Morocco, 
Ghana, Senegal and Burkina Faso. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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18

Orange

“Digital technology 
represents a 
powerful tool for 
regional inclusion.”

Laure de La Raudière, 
MP for the 3rd constituency of Eure-et-Loir, France

a People living in rural areas have the same needs as those living in urban 
centres. It’s nothing new to say that it is an absolute necessity to ensure equal access 
to the internet and mobile telephone network across regions. Just over 10 years ago, 
when we started deploying fibre cables in built-up, highly populated areas, I called on 
the government to turn their approach on its head and prioritise rural communities 
where internet connections were already weakest due to the length of the lines. We’ve 
made significant progress over recent years, helped in part by the Public Initiative 
Networks, such as the one put in place in Eure-et-Loir by the local authority in 
collaboration with Orange. Nowadays, as mobile coverage still suffers from too many 
black spots, the upcoming deployment of 5G must seek to provide an identical high 
quality service to the entire country. By connecting people, encouraging the 
emergence of new kinds of remote working and paving the way to a new economy, 
inclusive digital technology offers a genuine opportunity to help resolve regional 
development issues and overturn rural isolation. Major digital companies and 
politicians must continue to work together to achieve this goal.

Through its purpose, Orange has pledged to give “everyone the keys to a 

responsible digital world”. This promise needs to be brought to life starting with the 
CEO and management team and extending all the way out through employees, 
including those on the front line dealing with customers and sub-contractors. As a 
long-standing operator and a local outfit that is trusted by individuals and businesses 
alike, Orange has the means and the will to conduct this project successfully. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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Orange

“It’s up to businesses 
to foster the necessary 
conditions for change.”

Laurent Bigorgne 
Director of the Institut Montaigne, a European-focused 
independent French think tank

a When a company the size of Orange defines its purpose, it demonstrates a 

significant shift in the way economic agents see their role in global society. It is possible 
that Orange’s initiative to include its purpose in its bylaws could encourage other 
companies in France, Europe and around the world to do the same. Today, all 
businesses need to strongly define and demonstrate their commitment to society and 
the environment. There is no need for restrictive top-down legislation applied only by a 
few governments – indeed this kind of approach tends to suffocate competition. The 
only way to drive change is for companies to take action and increase awareness.

Orange’s purpose addresses one of the key challenges we are facing in today’s 
world, that of trust. Traceability, transparency and security are essential considerations 
in an era when mistrust in institutions, businesses and each other is growing and 
people are all too keen to turn to social media to express their opinion, often with vitriol. 
Digital technology is a double-edged sword. While it can bring about exceptional 
progress that improves well-being, health, justice and democracy for humanity the 
world over, it has a dark, sometimes scary side that can appear both uncontrolled and 
uncontrollable. In this context, the fact that a major European provider of inclusive 
digital services like Orange has stated its intention to become a trusted partner 
represents a significant commitment that is exceptionally important for the future of our 
society.

We hope Orange will continue to reinforce its position as a force for economic 

good and take on an active role as a major driver of digital transition in France, Europe 
and the world. We are also relying on Orange to adapt its action to suit local priorities 
and different regional realities as well as a full range of needs across all generations. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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22

Orange

“Taking an inclusive 
design approach to 
innovation.”

Jean-Marc Maillet-Contoz 
Entrepreneur and founder of the disability magazine Handirect

a The recent health crisis brought about by Covid-19 has confirmed the power 
of technology in maintaining relationships and social ties. This situation demonstrates 
how digital tools improve the lives of people with disabilities by the way they transcend 
situations such as national lockdowns and make it easier to connect with others. Digital 
technology significantly facilitates communication, access to knowledge and 
information, as well as administrative tasks. It gives people with disabilities the 
possibility to express their talent at work using specially adapted tools. 

It’s easy to see how such technology can serve to empower people with 
disabilities as well as integrate them into society and the workplace, but we still have a 
long way to go. All digital businesses must integrate “inclusive design” principles into 
their innovation strategy in order to further develop tools that everyone can use. The 
challenge is even greater when you consider that, in an ageing society such as ours in 
France, increasing numbers of people are finding themselves incapacitated. It’s 
unthinkable to exclude entire groups just because they can’t adapt to technology. 
Indeed, it is the technology that needs to adapt.

Orange already goes a long way in these efforts, offering customers solutions to 
improve autonomy with a wide range of products (broadband, mobile and connected 
devices) and services, and an adapted retail network and customer services. Yet it also 
needs to support its partner companies to move towards an “inclusive design” 
approach, helping them to progress technologically in a way that’s accessible to as 
many members of society as possible. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

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2 emissions by allowing us to drastically 
s more, 

“For over a decade, Orange has been 
providing us with videoconferencing 
solutions and data communication 
networks around the world. Orange’s digital 
technology helps reduce our company’s 
CO
cut down on business travel. What’
aggregating data makes it possible to 
streamline and optimise the energy we use 
in manufacturing processes, plant 
operations, and the way we transport 
goods. Orange’s purpose reflects the way it 
conducts its business – trust is implicit in 
partnerships and will undoubtedly reinforce 
the strong relationships we have built 
together. Its commitment to environmental 
sustainability and social responsibility is 
laudable. We value social commitment very 
highly, so much so, we have factored it into 
our partner-selection process.”

Peter Dew 
Chief Digital Officer at DSM, an international company 
specialised in life sciences and material sciences based 
in the Netherlands

24

Orange

“Innovation, especially 
digital innovation, 
must respect people.”

Carlo Purassanta 
Area Vice President of Microsoft France

a It is up to businesses to make the world a better place. This is especially true of 

tech companies, as they are able to capitalise on new digital intelligence to drive this 
major transformation forwards. To help build the kind of world we want to live in, more 
than ever before, innovation must take into consideration the ways it impacts and 
benefits individuals, society and the environment.

That is why innovation, especially digital innovation, must respect people, their 

data and their work, in order to have a much greater impact in terms of value added as a 
result of such innovation. It should also do what it can to protect biodiversity and 
combat the climate challenge, the urgency of which is now unquestionable. 
Furthermore, it has to reduce inequality and help drive economic growth and social 
development for all.

These beliefs are central to the way we work at Microsoft and form the foundation 

for our corporate mission to “empower every person and every organisation on the 
planet to achieve more”. It’s a simple phrase that we apply to everything we do. We also 
seek to bring this commitment to life to help the environment by investing heavily in 
research into solutions to capture CO2. We aim to go above and beyond carbon 
neutrality and completely eliminate our carbon footprint by 2050, by offsetting all the 
CO2 Microsoft has emitted since it was founded in 1975.

Orange and Microsoft share the same vision of what digital companies should 
bring to society and the world. Indeed, Orange’s purpose perfectly complements the 
mission pursued by Microsoft. As partners, we are closely aligned and carefully  
coordinated. We share the same goals and the same vision for the future. We need to 
keep thinking together about not only the impact our businesses have on society and the 
environment, but also the role we can play in making the world a better place. Now more 
than ever, we have to constantly remain on the same track about the way we think and 
the things we do. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

25

Our 
purpose

As a trusted 
partner, 
Orange gives 
everyone the 
keys to a 
responsible 
digital world.

26

Orange

At a glance

€42.2

147,000

billion in revenues

employees

266

million customers worldwide

26

countries and a global presence with  
Orange Business Services

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

27

€7.3

billion in investment 

N°1

for broadband and mobile convergence 
packages in Europe

5.4%

reduction in CO2 emissions 
between 2018 and 2019

82.2%

of electrical and electronic waste recovered 
at Group level

4 business activities
     Enhanced connectivity (retail,  

business and wholesale customers)

    Business IT support services
    Cybersecurity
    Financial services

 
28

Orange

Stepping up to the plate

by Stéphane Richard  
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 

At the time of writing, the entire world is going through a very challenging time, and no-one is 
able to say with any kind of certainty when it might end. Guided by our purpose, we are helping 
to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic wherever we can. As an essential service provider, we are 
proud of the way our Orange teams have really stepped up to the plate.

a “As a trusted partner, Orange gives everyone the 
keys to a responsible digital world.” Such is our purpose, 
which informs the role that drives us and brings us together 
as a community. It reflects where we’ve come from and paves 
the way for where we’re going. By integrating our purpose 
into the company bylaws, it forms the central element to who 
we are and the precious relationships that connect us with our 
customers and all our stakeholders. 

Our purpose becomes all the more meaningful during 

this health crisis that has spread from China to the entire 
world. In this unprecedented crisis, the Orange group has an 
essential part to play in all its operating countries. That’s 
because our networks help organise the emergency response 
under unrelenting pressure, they have had to cope with a 
huge number of different digital uses and remote working, 
and they are enabling us all to stay in touch with one another, 
maintaining social ties. Our data can also be very useful for 
public authorities trying to anticipate the spread of the virus 
and adapt the availability of healthcare in certain countries.  
I am very proud that a business like ours is orienting its 
expertise and innovation capabilities to serve the public 
interest in strict compliance with data protection 
requirements. 

The mobilisation we have seen across our businesses 

and regions has been incredible. I would like to thank 
everyone at Orange, especially those out in the field – our 
teams are working day and night to keep operations ticking 
over. I would also like to thank those behind the great many 
acts of kindness seen throughout the Group. It warms my 
heart to see Orange demonstrate such community spirit in 
these difficult times.   

Our purpose also binds us and fuels our strategy, as 
reflected in the new Engage 2025 strategic plan. It ensures 
we fulfil our environmental and societal commitment, where 
our primary focus is promoting digital equality. We are keen to 
further improve inclusion by tackling the digital divide. Our 
initial response involves rolling out networks in rural areas – 
the easiest answer given our operator model. This is 
especially true in France, as part of the New Deal and Public 
Initiative Networks but also in Africa and the Middle East, 
where the Group leverages innovative technical solutions to 
expand coverage in rural areas. Contrary to what people may 
think, the digital divide isn’t due to a lack of coverage. Indeed, 
one of the main obstacles to getting people online is their lack 
of know-how and resources. That’s why, in all our operating 
countries, we promise to help people access digital 
technology and teach them how to use it. We’re also 
deploying special plans for low-income families in Europe and 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

29

30

Orange

we’ll continue to offer ever-more affordable smartphones in 
Africa and the Middle East.

Our second focus is to address the climate emergency, 
which undoubtedly represents the greatest challenge facing 
humanity. It affects people of all ages, across the world and in 
all areas of the economy, and I firmly believe we can play an 
essential role in the transition to a low-carbon world. That’s 
why we’ve set ourselves an ambitious target to achieve the 
commitments undertaken by the telecoms industry to reach 
net carbon zero by 2040, 10 years ahead of schedule, despite 
the considerable surge in uses and data on our networks. To 
do so, we will increase the proportion of renewable energies 
we use and make unprecedented strides forwards in energy 
efficiency, largely due to our investment in the networks of the 
future. For example, fibre uses on average three times less 
energy than ADSL, and 5G outperforms all other networks for 
an equivalent consumption.

This core commitment runs through our entire strategic 

plan, which is structured around four ambitions. 

The first is to reinvent our operator model by 

capitalising on our leading position in networks. The telecoms 
industry is at a critical junction. It has to invest heavily in the 
networks of the future, despite increasingly intense 
competition, with OTT providers continuing to permeate the 
telecoms industry. At Orange more specifically, we are keenly 
aware that our unique selling points – our deployments and 
network quality – are becoming less of a factor. We therefore 
have to completely overhaul our operator model in Europe to 
identify news ways to offer customers enhanced fibre 
broadband and 5G mobile connectivity. This enriched 
performance will bring about speeds of up to 10 Gb/s and a 
multitude of new services such as immersive content, smart 
home services, edge computing and massive IOT (Internet of 
Things). 

Furthermore, we will completely reinvent our operator 
model by developing our infrastructure and diversifying into 
other areas. We will continue to invest in our own fibre 
technology while at the same time identify investor partners 
for certain deployments, particularly through Public Initiative 
Networks in France. Orange will also step up the transition 
from copper to fibre in France. We will develop mobile 
network RAN sharing agreements while maintaining our 
points of difference and developing TowerCos in most of our 
operating countries in Europe.

Beyond our core business, the second ambition of the 
Engage 2025 plan is to accelerate in growth areas, including 
Africa and the Middle East, BtoB and financial services. In 
Africa and the Middle East, we aim to become the reference 
digital operator through several effective growth drivers, such 
as mobile data and a multi-service strategy in energy, e-health 
and content.  

BtoB and IT services represent the second growth area 
for the Group. More than ever, we believe in bringing together 
telecoms and IT businesses, as reflected in the incredible 
surge in interest for on-demand and virtual connectivity 
services. We will take advantage of our local presence and 
recognised position as market leader to offer our business 
customers the best connectivity through 5G and fibre. Above 
all else, we will continue to expand our integration services in 
cybersecurity, the cloud, smart mobility and data intelligence. 
Orange will look to financial services as the third growth 
area. The banking licence we have recently been granted will 
enable us to supplement our Orange Money payment and 
money transfer services in Africa with banking services such 
as micro-credit deals. In Europe, we will capitalise on the 
considerable success achieved by Orange Bank, rolling out 
these services in all our operating countries by 2025 and we 
will put together packages combining banking and telecoms 
services to develop new products in payments, credit and 
insurance. 

The third ambition of our strategic plan involves placing 
data and AI at the heart of our innovation model so as to enter 
a new stage in our digital transformation. I am convinced these 
new technologies offer considerable potential that will make it 
possible to redefine the customer experience to offer the best 
physical and digital services. We will develop an “enhanced” 
customer experience in which services are easy to use, 
specialised and responsible. Orange will also use AI and data 
to improve its networks, initially by optimising its deployments 
and management of mobile sites.  

The fourth ambition of the Engage 2025 strategic plan 
seeks to tackle the skills challenge. In 2025, the company’s 
profile will be considerably different from what it is today. We 
will be more international, with 50% of our workforce 
employed outside France, compared with 38% currently. The 
proportion of BtoB employees will have nearly doubled 
compared with 2015 levels and we will need twice as many 
specialists in cutting-edge technologies. To support these 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

31

“Our commitment 
to digital equality 
and the environment 
runs through 
the entire 
Engage 2025 
strategic plan.”

changes, we will put in place an ambitious upskilling and 
professional reorientation programme open to all employees. 
Further to our focus on strengthening the skills we already 
have within the Group, we must also attract top talent from 
outside Orange, which is why our strategy prioritises 
increasing the appeal of the company. Orange aims to rank 
among the 10 most popular companies for university 
graduates. 

Our growth plan may be ambitious, but we believe it is 
entirely achievable. Once we have overcome this virus that is 
currently confining and isolating us, we will be able to look to 
the future. The most important thing we can do right now is 
help the authorities, support hospitals and healthcare workers, 
provide essential services to our customers and take care of 
one another. 

We can be proud of the fact that we really have stepped 

I would like to sincerely thank all our employees on the front 
line working to maintain our networks and serving our 
customers in the few stores that have remained open, as well 
as everyone working from home in conditions that are 
sometimes far from ideal. You are keeping our company going 
and safeguarding essential services in our operating countries. 
We are living in a very difficult time, and no-one can say 
when things might settle back down, but the crisis is likely to 
last for quite a while. That’s why we need to stay focused and 
stick together. Together, we will come through this challenge 
stronger, more united and more solid than ever.

But until then, take care of yourselves and your loved 

ones. 

up to the plate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Stéphane Richard

 
32

Orange

Engage 2025 is the new strategic plan that will carry the Group through to 2025, 
picking up from the Essentials2020 plan launched in 2015. To achieve our social and 
environmental commitment, Engage 2025 combines two major focuses: growth and 
responsibility. 

Engage 2025 
strategic plan 

Setting an example in social and 
environmental responsibility

a  At Orange we are convinced that in the years ahead 

strong economic performance will not be possible without 
exemplary performance on social and environmental issues.  
That’s why our positioning is based on a responsible business 
model committed to our employees, customers and society.
Orange is taking action to promote digital equality so 

that everyone can benefit from the digital revolution. As well as 
committing to providing digital coverage in rural areas, Orange 
has pledged to train and support those excluded from the 
digital world by offering inclusive services through Orange 
Digital Centers, which are opening in all the Group’s operating 
countries.

To combat the climate breakdown, the Group has set 
itself the ambitious goal of reaching the telecoms industry’s 
(GSMA) net zero carbon commitment by 2040 – 10 years 
ahead of schedule – and this despite of the explosive rise in 
data on its networks. This will be achieved through further 
investments in renewable energies and the circular economy 
as well as ongoing efforts to improve energy efficiency.

Reinventing Orange to pave the way to 
sustainable growth

a We will reinvent our operator model by offering our 
customers enhanced connectivity, with higher speeds and 
new complementary services, and by strengthening our 

leadership in more open infrastructure. We will also stimulate 
growth in three key areas. First, Orange has set its sights on 
becoming the reference digital operator in the Middle East 
and Africa by growing mobile data, deploying 4G and 
implementing its multi-service strategy. Next, we will take 
advantage of the convergence of telecoms and IT services by 
boosting the transformation of our BtoB activities while also 
meeting businesses’ ever-growing needs for cybersecurity 
services. Finally, Orange Bank, which has attracted over 
500,000 customers in just two years, will launch its financial 
services in all of our operating countries in Europe by 2025, 
while we also expand the range of Orange Money services on 
offer in Africa and the Middle East. 

To achieve its growth targets for 2025, Orange will 

continue pursuing its digital transformation, placing AI and 
data at the heart of its innovation model to improve the 
customer experience by personalising offers, providing 
smarter networks and becoming a more agile company as a 
whole. 

To meet its promise of being a digital and caring 
employer, Orange must also address the skills challenge by 
supporting all its employees. In 2025, the company will be 
more international, more focused on BtoB and at the cutting 
edge of new technologies. The Group aims to rank among the 
most attractive employers. We will back up our growth targets 
with an operational efficiency programme that will focus on 
boosting agility to improve Group-wide collaboration, 
automating network management and maintenance  
processes and further developing shared services. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

33

Reinventing 
our operator 
model

Placing data and 
AI at the heart 
of our innovation 
model 

Engage 
2025

Making a lasting 
commitment 
to digital equality and 
the planet

Accelerating
in growth areas

Co-creating 
a future-facing 
company

34

Orange

By deploying a robust network and developing innovative and responsible products and 
services, we play an active role in society and enable customers around the world to take 
advantage of digital technologies.

A business model 
focused on creating and 
sharing value

Trust, a fundamental value at Orange

a Orange champions a vision of a positive digital world 

through four key values: trust, proximity, service quality and 
humanity. Trust is at the heart of both our business model and 
the relationships we build with our customers, stakeholders and 
partners. It forms the foundation for our vision, offering an 
alternative to other major operators in the world of technology, 
connectivity and, more generally, inclusive digital relationships. 

promoting digital equality and achieving net zero carbon 
emissions by 2040 underpin our new strategic plan.
Understanding the impact of, and the role we play in the 
technological, economic, environmental and social factors 
that shape the world, has led us to champion a vision of a 
digital world that is people-focused, inclusive and responsible.

Sharing value for a digitally  
responsible world

Our business model 

a Our infrastructure provides greater connectivity to our 

retail, business and wholesale customers. Indeed, we’re 
offering faster speeds by rolling out fibre-optic broadband, 
deploying 5G and developing additional services in 
customers’ homes (content, at-home services as well as 
remote surveillance and assistance). Our expertise as both a 
network operator and digital services integrator all along the 
digital value chain means we combine the full range of skills 
required to support businesses with SDN technology, data 
and AI, cybersecurity, multicloud and smart mobility services 
and more. It’s through our smart and reliable networks that we 
develop financial services for Orange Money and Orange 
Bank.

Each of our Engage 2025 ambitions – which include 

reinventing our operator model, accelerating in growth areas, 
placing data and AI at the heart of our innovation model and 
co-creating a future-facing company – has been designed to 
maximise the value we create. We also strongly believe that 
financial performance goes hand in hand with social and 
environmental responsibility, which is why our goals of 

a The following pages illustrate the way in which 
Orange shares the value it creates with its stakeholders. Our 
employees represent our most valuable asset, which is why we 
promote employability and skills development to effectively 
implement our strategy. Our infrastructure enables us to offer a 
customer experience that combines the best in human and 
digital services. In 2019, Orange invested €672 million in 
research and development to drive responsible innovation 
centred on inclusive products and services, cybersecurity and 
eco-design.

Our robust financial position ensures profitability and 

performance for our lenders, investors and shareholders. 
External purchases accounted for €19.3 billion in 2019, 
demonstrating that our suppliers are the first to benefit from our 
cash flows. We foster responsible, ethical collaboration with 
our suppliers, to ultimately create jobs and improve the quality 
of working conditions across our entire value chain. The strong 
presence we have built up in regional communities means we 
actively contribute to digital inclusion and wealth creation both 
locally and nationally. Furthermore, we’re taking action to 
respond to the climate emergency by reducing our CO2 
emissions and improving energy efficiency. 

        C onsiderations

                                                              Our commitmen t s

                                                                     Considerations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Technological considerations 
High-speed connectivity, 
AI and big data, network and data security, 
network virtualisation 

35 

Economic considerations 
Competition, regulation, 
key suppliers, 
macroeconomic context 

C onsiderations 
O u r  commitments 

Digital equality 

Reinventing 
our operator 
model 

O u r  ambitions 
O u r  services 

Accelerating 
in growth 
areas 

Enhanced connectivity 
(retail, business and wholesale 
customers) 

A trusted partner that gives 
everyone the keys to a responsible 
digital world 

Financial 
services 

Cybersecurity 

Business IT 
support services 

Our servic e s  
Our ambitio n s  

Net zero carbon 
by 2040 

Our commitmen t s  
Considerations  

Co-creating a 
future-facing 
company 

Placing data and 
AI at the heart of 
our innovation 
model 

Social considerations 
Social cohesion, human rights, demographic changes, 
privacy and data protection, and regional development 

Environmental considerations 
Climate breakdown, preservation of 
resources and biodiversity 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                              
 
                                     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
       
                       
 
 
                    
 
 
 
                                               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
36 

Our 
assets 

People 

147,000 employees across the world 
31.1% of women in management networks 

Industrial 
and 
commercial 
assets 

A mobile network with 40,000 towers directly owned in Europe 
39.5 million homes connectable to very high-speed broadband 
450,000 km of submarine cable owned or co-owned 
A powerful brand: ranked 64th in the BrandZ Top 100 most valuable 
global brands 
5,169 stores across the world and 900,000 resellers in Africa 

Orange 

Value 
created 

Developing skills 
for the future 
and employability 
for all 

Leading the 
feld 

Intellectual 
assets 

€672 million invested in Research & Innovation 
Operator with the most patents fled in Europe, developing 
230 patent-protected inventions in 2019 

Responsible 
innovation 

Financial 
assets 

Signifcant equity of €34.4 billion 
Reasonable debt ratio: net debt/EBITDAaL of 
telecoms activities = 1.96x 
A stable and long-term shareholder base: 23% public sector, 
5.42% employees and former employees 

Solid fnancial 
performance 

Our ecosystem 

Suppliers and 
partners 

Regions and 
society 

BuyIn, a joint venture between Orange & Deutsche Telekom, 
optimises procurement of networks, terminals and IT services 
platforms and equipment 
Every critical supplier has signed a CSR clause 
124 CSR audits conducted under the Joint Audit Cooperation (JAC) 

26 countries for consumer services and a global presence with 
Orange Business Services 
4G network covers 98% of the population in 8 operating countries 
in Europe and 17 countries (including two minority shareholdings) 
in Africa and the Middle East 
Network of 17 Orange Fabs, 109 Solidarity FabLabs and 2 Orange 
Digital Centers, Orange Foundation present in 30 countries 

Responsible and 
ethical working 
relationships 
throughout the value 
chain 

Regional presence 
and digital inclusion 

Environment 

2

CO  emissions: 1.3 million tonnes (Scopes 1 and 2)
Environmental management (ISO 14001) certifcation for 60% of the 
Group’s scope 

Towards carbon 
neutrality and a 
circular economy 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
 
     
    
    
    
        
 
    
 
   
 
    
     
  
    
 
     
  
     
 
     
 
 
  
    
    
     
 
   
     
 
 
     
 
    
 
     
 
   
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

37

11,000 recruitments on unlimited contracts across the Group, including 3,000 in 
France
Over 6,000 internships and work-study programmes in France
26 hours of training per Group employee (65% of the workforce)

266 million customers, including 3,000 multinationals outside France
 No.1 in convergence in Europe with 10.8 million customers
No.1 in mobile network quality for the 9th year running (Arcep)
 18 million active Orange Money customers and over 500,000 Orange Bank 
customers

  Accessibility: Over 70% of Orange stores in mainland France are Autonomy-
certified, and 117,000 telephones adapted for the elderly were sold in France
  Eco-design approach to products: the carbon footprint of the Livebox 5 is 29% 
lower than the Livebox 4
 Cybersecurity: over 200 malicious websites shut down every day

 EBITDAaL: €12.9 billion 
  Organic cash-flow from telecoms activities: €2.3 billion

  Improved working conditions for 1.3 million people employed by suppliers since 
2010 through audits conducted by the JAC
  Responsible supplier relations and procurement label in France, which integrates 
ISO 20400 guidelines

  Contribution to wealth creation, such as 11% of GDP in Senegal and 2% in 
Moldova 
  €23 million invested by the Orange Foundation, primarily to help vulnerable 
women and young people
  €295 million invested to support entrepreneurship over the last 10 years

  5.4% reduction in CO2 emissions and 2.3% reduction in energy consumption 
between 2018 and 2019
  82.2% of electrical and electronic waste recovered at Group level
  16.3% of unwanted mobile devices sold by Orange across Europe are collected

2019 data

Customers
€42.2 billion 
Revenues

Suppliers and partners
€19.3 billion 
External purchases and leases

Employees
€8.5 billion 
Wages and employee  
benefit expenses 

Regions
€5.0 billion 
Investments in 
the networks

Public sector
€3.8 billion 
Licences and taxes

Shareholders
€2.1 billion 
Dividends paid

Lenders and 
financial investors
€1.5 billion 
Finance costs

     
     
    
    
    
    
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
38

Orange

The advent of digital technology has revolutionised our world and ushered in major changes 
to our lives, jobs, education, health, etc. Though the realm of possibilities brought about by 
technology has never been so vast, it comes with certain risks that have to be assessed in 
order to factor in social, environmental and economic considerations. This risk assessment is 
built into our Engage 2025 strategic plan. 

Major considerations, 
risks and opportunities

Technological considerations 

a Internet access is expanding in the Middle East and 

Africa, primarily through the deployment of 4G mobile networks 
and in Europe, with investments in fibre-optic broadband and 
5G launches. It is through these new networks, along with 
greater capacity in existing networks and increasingly 
widespread ownership of smartphones, that the growing 
demand for video streaming and online services is being met. 
At the same time, Network Function Virtualisation, which 
involves separating the hardware from the software, makes 
networks more flexible and responsive, and it’s now possible to 
automate, programme and control them remotely. AI and data 
will transform operations and considerably improve efficiency, 
with estimates suggesting that by 2025, 70% of value created 
by AI technology will arise from redesigning process. Similarly, 
the active market for selling stolen data and the threat of 
cyberattacks that hangs over every company mean network 
security is more crucial than ever. 

Economic considerations

a Our industry is undergoing an economic shift and 
competition is intensifying. Over-the-top (OTT) companies, 
which offer media services directly via the internet, are 
becoming increasingly popular with the general public and 
businesses alike. Meanwhile, big tech companies are looking 
to capitalise on their infrastructure in BtoB and wholesale 
markets while multiplying their low-cost packages on the retail 
market. The Group faces major economic challenges due to 
concentration in certain key sectors of its supply chain as well 
as from an ever-increasing number of strict regulations, 
particularly when it comes to obtaining and renewing licences. 

Furthermore, telecoms operators are essential in maintaining 
public services, economic activity and social ties due to the 
quality and reliability of the networks they deploy.

Social considerations

a Four billion people in the world – more than half the 

global population – do not have access to the internet, 
including 3.2 billion who lack the means or know-how. This 
means there is not only a lack of access to connectivity, 
equipment, basic services, information and knowledge, but 
also to a large portion of the economy and the labour market. 
Digital inclusion is all the more pressing as more than half of the 
world’s population growth by 2025 will come from Africa, 
where the Group is present. On top of this, consumers expect 
telecoms operators to earn their trust by protecting their 
privacy and data, contributing to regional development by 
bringing very high-speed broadband to sparsely populated 
areas and promoting freedom of speech in their operating 
countries. These expectations are arising alongside 
stakeholders’ ever-increasing demands on companies to 
uphold human rights in their operations and supply chains.

Environmental considerations 

a The climate breakdown is felt even more keenly with 

the increasingly extreme weather events we’re experiencing 
and the impact this has on the economy, society and 
biodiversity. While data and data usage are projected to 
account for nearly 20% of global electricity consumption 
by 2025, operators are first and foremost essential in the 
transition to a low-carbon world, primarily by helping to reduce 
the CO2 footprint of other industries. 

  
 
 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

39

Opportunities

Risks

Technological 
considerations
Very high-speed 
broadband, AI and data, 
network and data security, 
network virtualisation

   Enhanced connectivity
   New BtoB/BtoC/wholesale services
   Improved customer experience
   Cybersecurity services
   Innovation in financial services
   Operational efficiency

  Cyber threats
  Investment capacity
  Rarity of skills
  Disintermediation
  Social acceptability

Economic 
considerations
Competition, 
regulation, 
key suppliers, 
macroeconomic context

Social 
considerations
Social cohesion, 
human rights,
demographic changes, 
privacy and data 
protection, and regional 
development

Environmental 
considerations
Climate breakdown, 
preservation 
of resources 
and biodiversity

  Growth in multi-services
  Growth in Africa and the Middle East
  Network sharing
  Collaborative development of solutions
  Business continuity

 Monetisation of investment
 Unpredictable changes in tax and regulations
 Supply chain disruption
 Pressure on tariffs
 Concentration of key suppliers
 Geopolitical instability

   Development of inclusive and 
accessible solutions
    Deployment and expansion of 
coverage
   Protection of freedom of expression
   Control of excessive use
   Support for people in new uses

  Digital divide
   Breaches of human rights by a 
third-party connected to Orange
   Breaches of fundamental freedoms 
resulting from injunctions from local 
authorities
  Cyberattacks and data theft

  Low-carbon solutions and innovations
  Development of the circular economy
   Avoidance of certain emissions through 
the use of digital technology
   Development of offers to reduce 
emissions in other industries
  Stakeholder dialogue

   Impact of extreme weather events
   Multiplication of regulatory constraints
   Obstacles hampering the development 
of new technology
   Delay in the energy transition

   
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
40

Orange

Orange has a stable, robust and experienced governance team to steer the Engage 2025 
strategic plan and achieve its long-term performance goals. The governance structure is 
balanced at every level and includes independent directors and directors representing our 
main shareholders (public sector and employees). Members are chosen to ensure a diverse 
range of skills, broad international experience and a more balanced representation of men 
and women.

Strong 
governance

Core and complementary expertise 
on the Board of Directors

a The Board of Directors sets the Group’s major 
strategic, economic, social, financial and technological 
policies and oversees their effective implementation by senior 
management. At the end of 2019, the Board was made up of 
15 members, each appointed for a four-year term of office. 
Together they bring the general business skills and specialist 
areas of expertise required to achieve the Group’s strategy 
and ambitions (see the following pages). Such 
complementarity and diversity enrich the Board’s discussions 
and guarantee its strength. A representative from the Orange 
Works Council attends Board meetings, as does a 
representative from the Global Works Council when the Board 
presents its financial results. Both representatives attend as 
non-voting members. 

At the end of 2016, the independent director Charles-

Henri Filippi was also appointed lead director. His term of 
office is due to expire at the end of the Shareholders’ Meeting 
of 19 May 2020. The lead director exercises statutory powers 
and is entrusted with the duties and powers set out in the 
Internal Guidelines of the Board. He ensures the Board is able 
to carry out its responsibilities effectively and maintains 
smooth relations with senior management. He is responsible 
for identifying and preventing potential conflicts of interest, 
ensuring the governance system is effective – in particular in 
crisis situations – and is involved in evaluating the Board. The 
lead director is the point of contact for senior management in 
compliance-related matters and reports to all members of the 
Board on the effectiveness of the compliance procedures and 

risk levels. In addition, he attends a meeting of the Risks 
Committee each year. The lead director also engages with the 
Group’s investors and shareholders. 

In 2019, in addition to the standard monitoring of Group 

operations – which included assessing operational 
performance, financial results, risk factors, budgets and 
setting the compensation of the Group’s corporate officers – 
the Board reviewed the acquisitions completed by Orange 
Business Services since 2013, especially Enovacom, Business 
& Decision and Basefarm. It also scrutinised the acquisition of 
Spanish football broadcasting rights, the first two years of 
Orange Bank and the acquisition of 5G frequencies. More 
specifically, in 2019, the Board approved the sale of its 
remaining stake (2.49%) in the BT Group and the full 95.5% 
interest in Orange Niger. It also discussed the proposed 
acquisition of SecureData and approved the acquisition of 
SecureLink. Furthermore, it approved the Group’s trajectory 
after the Engage 2025 strategic plan was agreed.  

As set out in its Internal Guidelines, the Board assessed 

its operating practices and committees in 2019. The 
assessment, which this year was conducted by an 
independent firm, concluded that the Board’s operations 
(effective coordination between directors and members of 
senior management) and performance (quality of work and 
decisions) were deemed to be satisfactory by the substantial 
majority of directors. Directors believe the governance bodies 
operate effectively and the Board works in a cooperative and 
collegial manner, in accordance with the best practice 
recommended by the Afep-Medef Code. The areas of 
improvement identified mainly concerned improved 
succession planning, greater diversity of international and 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

The Board of Directors 
in 2019

Average no. of years of service (at end-2019) 
Average age 
Number of meetings  
Collective attendance rate 
Gender representation 
Proportion of independent directors  

Committee meetings 

Composition

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 

Independent directors 

Directors representing the public sector 

Directors representing employees  

Director representing employee shareholders 

41

4.2
56  

11 (level on 2018)
89.9%
45% (women) / 55% (men)
63% 
(excluding directors representing employees 
and employee shareholders)

9 for the Audit Committee
9 for the Governance and Corporate Social 
and Environmental Responsibility Committe
2 for the Innovation and Technology Committee

Stéphane Richard 

Alexandre Bompard 
Charles-Henri Filippi
Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner
Christel Heydemann 
Helle Kristoffersen 
Bernard Ramanantsoa 
Jean-Michel Severino

Bpifrance Participations 
(represented by Nicolas Dufourcq)
Hélène Dantoine 
Anne Lange

Sébastien Crozier
Fabrice Jolys
René Ollier

Philippe Charry

For details of the dates at which the terms of office of each director began or are due to expire, 
see section 5.1.1 of the 2019 Universal Registration Document.

 
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
   
   
   
   
   
42

Orange

technical experience on the Board and more detailed 
follow-up of decisions taken to ensure the Board receives full 
and accurate information.

An Executive Committee focused on 
Engage 2025

Active specialised committees

a Three committees provide proposals, 

recommendations and opinions in their respective areas of 
expertise to inform the Board of Directors’ discussions and 
decisions. They are the Audit Committee, the Governance 
and Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility 
Committee and the Innovation and Technology Committee. 
Committee members are chosen to reflect the principles of 
balance and diversity that apply within the Board. These three 
committees are chaired by independent directors and all 
include one director representing employees and one 
representing the public sector. In 2019, the Audit Committee 
worked on financial reporting, internal control, risk 
management, the Code of Ethics and strategic growth 
projects, including interests in Africa and the Middle East. The 
Governance and Corporate Social and Environmental 
Responsibility Committee assessed the compensation of the 
Group’s corporate officers, the governance system and the 
effectiveness of the Board of Directors. It also continued to 
review the Group’s corporate social responsibility actions, 
such as implementing the Code of Conduct and the Group’s 
Duty of care plan, as well as preparing any non-financial 
performance statements. The Innovation and Technology 
Committee focused on safeguarding cybersecurity (BtoB and 
BtoC) and 5G deployment. Directors travelled to Lille in 
northern France to oversee field testing on 10 5G towers that 
were deployed in 2018. 

a The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer works 

alongside two Delegate Chief Executive Officers with clearly 
defined areas of expertise. A lead director is entrusted with 
significant responsibilities and authority, ensuring robust 
corporate governance that focuses on efficiency and 
performance while guaranteeing a balance of power.

The Executive Committee was restructured in 2018 to 

boost expertise in the key areas of cybersecurity, digital 
transformation and mobile financial services. The new team is 
also more international, with the addition of directors from 
high-growth regions such as Spain and the Middle East and 
Africa. 

The Orange director programme 

a As well as placing great importance on governance 

at Group level, Orange also promotes excellence within its 
entities. To consistently improve the management and 
supervision of its subsidiaries and joint ventures, Orange 
continuously maintains a dynamic programme — including 
training courses, conferences and debates, as well as various 
tools and shared standards highlighting best practice — for 
members of its local boards of directors and supervisory 
boards. Orange firmly believes that applying the highest 
standards of governance improves performance. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 

43 

Balanced 
and varied skills 
on the Board 

International 
experience 

An independent frm conducted an analysis of 
the range of skills possessed by members of the 
Board, confrming that it demonstrates the 
qualities required to critically consider the 
matters with which it is presented. The charts 
opposite present the balanced range of essential 
skills possessed by the 15 members of the 
Board. 

15 

7 

6 

3 

Industry 
expertise 

11 

5 

4 

4 

Corporate 
expertise 

Legal/Compliance/Governance/Ethics 

CSR and sustainable development 

HR and employee support 

Senior management 

Finance/Audit/Accounting/Risk 

M&A and investor relations 

Regulatory framework 

Innovation and technology 

Sales/Marketing 

Production/Supply chain 

12 

11 

10 

10 

9 

8 

8 

7 

6 

4 

Europe 

Americas 

Africa/Middle East 

Asia 

Telecoms/Technology/
Digital/Media 

Retail 

Banking/Finance 

Industry 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15

15

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
44

Orange

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee comprises 15 members who coordinate the implementation 
of the Engage 2025 strategic plan, monitor operational, social and technical targets and 
optimise the allocation of resources.

15

12

1

3

6

5

8

1.
2.
3.

Stéphane Richard 
 Ramon Fernandez  
Gervais Pellissier 

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Delegate Chief Executive Officer, CEO Finance, Performance and Europe
Delegate Chief Executive Officer, Group Transformation and President  
of Orange Business Services
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Orange France

Fabienne Dulac  

4.
5. Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière   Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Technology and Global Innovation
6.
7.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Financial Services
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Orange Spain

Paul de Leusse  
Laurent Paillassot  

 
 
 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

45

7

13

11

2

9

10

4

14

8. Christine Albanel  

9.

Jérôme Barré  

10. Hugues Foulon  
11. Nicolas Guérin  

12. Valérie Le Boulanger 
13. Béatrice Mandine  

14.
15.

 Alioune Ndiaye  
 Helmut Reisinger  

 Senior Executive Vice-President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Diversity, 
Partnerships and Inclusiveness, Deputy Chairwoman of the Orange Foundation
Senior Executive Vice-President, Orange Wholesale and International Networks
Senior Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Cybersecurity activities
 Senior Executive Vice-President, Group General Secretary and Secretary  
of the Board of Directors
Senior Executive Vice-President, Group Human Resources
 Senior Executive Vice-President, Internal and External Communication for  
the Group and Brand
Senior Executive Vice-President, Orange Middle East and Africa
Senior Executive Vice-President, Orange Business Services

 
46

Orange

The Orange compensation policy for senior executives reflects the focus on corporate social 
responsibility at the highest level of the Group’s governance, the Engage 2025 strategic plan 
and performance targets for the short, medium and long term.

Compensation balanced 
equally between
financial and non-financial 
performance targets

A comprehensive compensation policy

a Each year, the compensation of Orange’s corporate 
officers is assessed by the Board of Directors on the basis of 
recommendations made by the Governance and Corporate 
Social and Environmental Responsibility Committee. It is also 
subject to approval at the annual Ordinary Shareholders’ 
Meeting as part of shareholders’ Say on Pay. 

We implement our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 

strategy by incorporating non-financial performance criteria 
into the compensation packages of corporate officers and 
members of the Executive Committee. These criteria include 
social indicators, such as workforce participation rates for 
women, accident frequency rates and the Employee 
Barometer, and environmental indicators, including the change 
in CO2 rate per customer use and the renewable electricity rate. 
This last indicator was introduced in 2020 as part of the 
Group’s efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions, which will 
be achieved in particular by switching to renewable energy 
sources. 

Non-financial criteria help to reconcile short-term 
operational profitability targets with longer-term objectives to 
create value and defend shareholder interests. The policy 
applies to all senior executives to ensure they are working 
towards the same targets.

The three pillars of executive compensation 

a  The compensation of Orange’s corporate officers is 

made up of three components.

determined based on the level and complexity of their 
responsibilities, their experience and professional background, 
and market analysis for comparable positions. In 2019, it 
remained unchanged from the previous year.

Variable compensation

Variable compensation is intended to give corporate 
officers an incentive to fulfil the annual performance targets set 
by the Board of Directors in line with the corporate strategy. 
The variable component is split into levels of performance with 
a balanced weighting between financial (50%) and  
non-financial (50%) criteria. The variable component is 
determined using specific objectives and quantitative 
performance measures, including non-financial indicators. 
The variable component represents 80% of the fixed 

compensation awarded to the Chairman and Chief Executive 
Officer, and can increase to 100% where targets are 
exceeded, and a maximum of 60% of the fixed compensation 
awarded to the Delegate Chief Executive Officers*.

Performance shares

Corporate officers benefit from performance shares 

grants under the Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) in order to 
effectively align their interests with those of the company and 
the expectations of shareholders. Performance is measured 
over a three-year period and is based on criteria that take into 
account the direct contribution of executives to the long-term 
overall performance of the company. The plan is open to 
members of the Executive Committee, as well as executive 
and leadership networks. 

Fixed compensation

The fixed compensation of corporate officers is 

* For more information, see the 2019 Universal Registration Document.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

47

2019 Compensation:
quantitative, measurable criteria

Chairman and CEO

Delegate Chief Executive Officers

Fixed 50.6%

LTIP 14.5%

Annual 
variable 34.9%

Fixed 58.9%

LTIP  13.8%

Annual 
variable 27.3%

Annual variable compensation 

Financial criteria
30% operating cash flow
20% change in revenues

Non-financial criteria
33% employee experience indicators
17% BtoC and BtoB customer experience indicators

2019-2021 LTIP

Performance indicators
50% total shareholder return
50% organic cash flow (telecoms activities)

Moderating criteria
CO2 rate per customer usage, Net Promoter Score, Brand Power Index
average broadband and mobile data throughput, revenues from diversification

 
48

Orange

By making ethical conduct central to the way the Group operates, Orange is going above and 
beyond regulatory requirements to meet its stakeholders’ growing demand for transparency. 
We believe that sustainable performance is only possible when it is built on trust. 

Ethical principles 
to enable sustainable 
performance

Ethics and compliance 

The ethical implications of AI

a Orange’s Compliance Department ensures 
compliance with laws and regulations in order to protect the 
Group, its employees and its executives from the risks of 
non-compliance. We do so by identifying and analysing risks 
as well as by implementing operational action plans and taking
a structured approach to raising awareness, training and 
sharing best practices. This approach finds its roots in our 
Code of Ethics, which sets out guidelines for our stakeholders 
and governs the professional conduct of our employees. Our 
network of ethics advisors implements the approach 
operationally, and the Group Compliance Department 
organises international ethics events, such as the Ethics & 
Compliance Day, which are orchestrated at entity level by the 
Ethics and Compliance network.

Anti-corruption

a Orange follows a zero-tolerance policy when it comes 

to corruption and influence peddling. Our network of 
Compliance Officers runs the anti-corruption compliance 
programme, which focuses in particular on staff training. With 
versions already available in both French and English, the 
UN-Orange online anti-corruption certification was translated 
into Spanish in 2019, and 35,000 certificates were issued in 
the past year alone. The Group’s Fraud & Compliance 
approach to due diligence, which underwent a thorough 
review in 2019, has been deployed across the vast majority of 
the Group’s divisions and operating countries. The new 
version of the “Eliot” system for declaring gifts and other 
benefits received and offered is used in 80% of the Group’s 
entities.  

a While AI has been identified as one of Orange’s key 
growth drivers, a number of ethical principles need be met in 
order to ensure that the technology benefits everyone. This 
includes respect for diversity, privacy, transparency of 
  algorithms and system security. To further develop this 

approach to AI, the Group has teamed up with the non-profit 
organisation Impact AI, which works with industry stakeholders 
to produce a collective response to the ethical and societal 
challenges that AI presents, and supports innovative positive 
impact projects. Furthermore, we support initiatives in France 
such as Objectif IA and we train our employees at our Orange 
Campus. We also signed the first International Charter for 
inclusive Artifical Intelligence with the Arborus fund in early 2020.

Responsible purchasing

a Orange pursues a responsible approach to purchasing 
and upholds its social responsibility principles in its relationships 
with suppliers. The policy requires a CSR clause to be written 
into all of the Group’s framework agreements and local 
contracts. A Code of Conduct details the ethical, social and 
environmental commitments expected from suppliers. Orange 
is listed on the EcoVadis platform, and it ensures its suppliers 
are too. The Group also conducts its own audits. In 2019, the 
Orange France purchasing department received ISO 20400 
certification and the Responsible supplier relations and 
procurement label. Over the past five years, the amount of 
goods and services Orange has sourced from France’s 
sheltered employment sector has been steadily increasing, 
reaching €20.1 million in 2019. Orange is also helping to boost 
responsible purchasing standards through the JAC (Joint Audit 
Cooperation), an association of telecoms operators that 
monitors and assesses compliance with CSR principles among 
the largest suppliers in the industry.  

2019 Integrated Annual Report

49

2019 
highlights

Purpose

Orange unveils its collectively 
defined purpose
“As a trusted partner, Orange gives everyone the keys to a 
responsible digital world.” Orange’s purpose, defined in 
collaboration with its employees and stakeholders, was 
unveiled by Stéphane Richard in December. It was 
integrated into the Group’s bylaws and reflects Orange’s 
contribution to society (see pages 8 to 25).

Brand

An international campaign on digital 
responsibility
“We all have great power. We all have great responsibility.” 
Such is the message of our new ad campaign that shows 
a father giving his teenage daughter her first smartphone. 
Digital technology opens a world of possibilities, 
but such unparalleled freedom imposes a duty of 
responsibility on us all. Orange is helping to shape a world 
where everyone uses digital technologies in a safe and 
enlightened way.

Strategy
On 4 December, Stéphane Richard 
presented the Group’s 
new Engage 2025 strategic plan 
to set a new example in social 
and environmental responsibility
(see pages 32-33 and 55-97).

Cybersecurity

Acquisition of SecureData and 
SecureLink
In 2019, Orange finalised the acquisition of the Dutch 
company SecureLink, the market leading independent 
provider of cybersecurity in Europe, and SecureData, the 
UK’s largest independent cybersecurity service provider.
Consequently, Orange became Europe’s leading 
cybersecurity company, operating in eight countries.

 
 
50

Orange

Financial services

Orange Bank in Spain
Launched in November, this innovative 100% mobile-based 
banking offer includes a variety of services, such as a bank 
account, a Mastercard debit card, mobile payment and a 
savings account.

Networks

Networks

Orange builds its 10 millionth fibre 
connection
In March 2019, Orange celebrated building its 10 millionth 
FTTH connection in France. As a core stakeholder in the digital 
development of the region, and less populated areas in 
particular, the Group has built over 70% of the fibre network in 
France. At the same time, Orange also supports other 
operators in deploying their own networks by providing 
commercial fibre solutions.

Faster deployment in international 
networks
In November, Orange announced the construction of a new 
international backbone network connecting eight countries in 
West Africa and recently invested in the most cutting-edge 
MainOne submarine cable, which connects Senegal and Côte 
d’Ivoire with Europe. The Group also partnered with PCCW 
and PEACE to deploy a new submarine cable between Europe 
and Asia via East Africa by 2021.

Workplace gender equality

Content

A global Group agreement on 
workplace gender equality
Orange signed a global Group agreement with 
UNI Global Union to improve gender equality in the 
workplace, support a positive work-life balance, and 
combat discrimination and violence across the Group’s 
26 operating countries.

OCS reached the symbolic 
threshold of 3 million subscribers 
towards the end of 2019, the year in 
which it broadcast the last season 
of Game of Thrones, the series 
that took the world by storm and 
was shown exclusively on OCS in 
France.

Eco-design approach to product 
development

Launching the Livebox 5

Launched in October 2019, the Livebox 5 makes it possible 
for the entire family to use their devices at the same time, 
with download speeds of up to 2 Gb/s. From the design 
stage, Orange worked with its many partners to reduce the 
device’s carbon footprint by 29%, in particular by 
developing a 100% recycled plastic case.

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

51

Collaborative innovation

The Orange Business Summit 
in April 2019 brought together 
1,000 customers of Orange 
Business Services, LACROIX 
group, Schneider Electric, 
Renault and the SNCF, who 
all pledged to work with us to 
develop new uses for 5G.

Networks
Orange Romania put technological
innovation and premium packages
at the heart of its 5G offer
In November, Orange Romania was the first subsidiary in
the Group to roll out 5G services. With mobile throughputs
that can reach up to 1.2 Gb/s, Orange customers can enjoy
a comprehensive range of premium services and devices
designed to improve the 5G experience, such as eSIMs
and Number Share, which allows people to use the same
mobile phone number on several devices without a
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection.

Networks
At 31 December 2019, 67.5 million 
customers around the world had 
signed up to Orange’s 4G offers 
(up 20.1% on the previous year), 
including 23.8 million in Africa and 
the Middle East.

Digital equality

A new hub concept to promote 
innovation and integration
In 2019, the Group inaugurated its first two Orange Digital 
Centers (ODC) in Tunisia and Senegal, bringing several 
strategic programmes together under one roof as well as 
courses to train young people in digital technology, 
a start-up incubator and initiatives to promote investment 
in their projects, representing one of the tangible ways in 
which Orange’s Engage 2025 plan is taking action to 
promote digital equality.

Artificial intelligence

Launching the virtual voice 
assistant Djingo
Orange has launched its own smart speaker developed 
with Deutsche Telekom, featuring an integrated virtual 
voice assistant named Djingo. The technology is also 
available via remote control at no extra cost to Orange 
customers equipped with UHD TV boxes so they can 
operate all Orange TV services using voice controls.

52

Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report

53

54

Orange

55 

Commitment 

Orange has centred its new Engage 2025 strategic plan around digital 
equality and the environment. In all our operating countries, 
we promise to reduce inequality to enable everyone, whatever their 
situation, to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities brought 
about by digital technology. As we take on the biggest challenge 
humanity has ever faced, we have a responsibility to start taking 
action right away, especially since telecoms operators have such an 
important role to play in bringing about a low-carbon economy. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
56

Orange

Promoting digital 
equality

In addition to our efforts to provide coverage in all areas, we are combating the digital divide
on all fronts. Our initiatives target those left behind by the digital revolution because 
they lack the resources or know-how or because of their social situation. We aim to help them 
access the digital tools and services essential to allow them to take part in and develop 
their own projects to generate economic growth and social well-being. 

Coverage for all

Inclusive offers and affordable devices

a To enable everyone to access digital technology and 

a The consultation on vulnerability and digital 

promote digital equality, Orange focuses on expanding 
network coverage. In France, the Orange Connected Territories 
programme significantly improves access to high quality 
high-speed and very high-speed fixed and mobile broadband 
for homes and businesses in rural areas. We connect urban 
areas to fibre networks and support local authorities in their 
Public Initiative Networks (PIN) projects. Orange currently holds 
the concession for 4 million PIN sockets. In addition, the 
French government has asked us to operate the programme to 
eliminate black spots and ensure every town in France enjoys 
mobile voice and 3G data coverage. In 2018, France’s major 
operators came together on the New Deal for Mobile, an 
initiative to improve reception quality throughout the country, 
especially in rural areas, which has so far brought 4G coverage 
to an additional 10 million people. 

In the Middle East and Africa (MEA), we rely on 

innovative technical solutions to expand coverage in rural areas 
such as lightweight masts that are easier and cheaper to install 
and more wide reaching antennae. The Group will set up 
8,000 new 4G mobile sites by 2023, strengthening the core 
networks that carry the majority of traffic. The Group is 
simultaneously expanding global coverage through its Orange 
Marine subsidiary that specialises in laying and maintaining 
submarine cables.

technology conducted in France in 2017 highlighted the need 
to develop offers for low-income households. Families in the 
north of France who lack digital access can benefit from a 
discounted Coup de Pouce initiative that equips homes with a 
broadband and landline connection, reconditioned PC and 
free training. This is now being extended to the rest of the 
country and, given its success within pilot communities  
(4,000 customers), our Engage 2025 strategic plan now 
includes a commitment to launch subsidised offers in all of 
our operating countries in Europe. 

In Spain, the Gigas Solidarios programme enables 
customers to donate their unused data to low-income families 
with school-aged children, to whom Orange also offers a 
connected tablet with free internet access and preinstalled 
software.

Orange is continuing to increase network coverage 
through the Middle East and Africa. In 2019, we launched our 
latest digital inclusion device, Sanza, a mobile phone with 
voice recognition features that’s available in 11 African 
countries for a price of around $20. With a battery life of  
5 days, 3G+, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as voice, text and 
data services, customers can enjoy smartphone-style 
features and access to the most popular apps. Sanza users 
can access the My Orange app as well as mobile money 
transfer solutions through Orange Money. In January 2020, 
the 4G Sanza XL was launched in three African countries at 
the average price of $28.

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

57

Orange Digital
Centers — a unique 
concept to support 
innovation and 
promote access to 
technology for all

a As part of the Group’s sustained efforts to foster an 
innovative and inclusive digital ecosystem, Orange launched 
the first Orange Digital Centers (ODC) in 2019. ODCs are 
launchpads for new ideas that are free, open to all and 
designed to host an extensive range of programmes, from 
digital literacy training for young people to start-up 
accelerators, all in one location. 

Each ODC has its own Coding School, which combines 
a training centre, numerous events, a Solidarity FabLab and a 
digital fabrication workshop teaching 12 to 25 year-olds to 
use emerging technology in their projects such as 3D printers 
and laser cutters. ODCs also host Orange Fabs, our network 
of start-up accelerators active on four continents. For three 
months, start-ups receive mentoring and logistical support as 
they develop their solutions. ODCs operate as a network so 
they are able to take advantage of learnings from each other 
across several countries. Start-ups also have the opportunity 
to develop national and international partnerships with one or 
more entities from the Group. The ODCs work in close 
collaboration with our corporate venture fund, Orange 
Ventures, to identify the start-ups with the greatest potential.
After the first ODCs were launched in Tunis in April and Dakar 
in October of 2019, we are preparing to open others in all of 
our operating countries and every operating division in 
France. 

1.
2.
3.
4.

Coding school 
Tech training and events 
centre

Solidarity FabLab 
Digital fabrication workshop

Orange Fab 
Start-up accelerator

Orange Ventures 
Collaboration with the Group’s 
corporate venture fund

58

Orange

Meeting basic needs 

a We boost growth by providing essential services, 

primarily connectivity. In the Middle East and Africa, we have 
identified a number of areas for improvement, such as 
education and agriculture. E-education, or new technology in 
schools, is proving a low-cost, efficient solution for expanding 
resources and educating children across the entire region. 
Africa is expected to see the largest population growth in the 
21st century, making it the youngest and most dynamic 
continent on Earth; it is therefore crucial to ensure young 
people have the education they need. In the Democratic 
Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Senegal, we have 
launched mobile offers collating high quality educational 
content in partnership with leading online learning platforms. 
To open quality education services to an even wider 
audience, we increasingly establish partnerships with 
e-learning providers such as Virtual Universities in Senegal 
and Tunisia, the CNED and edX (the world’s leading provider 
of MOOCs). Mobile applications are proving to be very useful 
in agriculture, namely for managing farming activities. Orange 
Burkina Faso has launched an app called ASMA that lets 
farmers remotely manage irrigation control systems using 
their mobile phones, as sensors placed in the fields are 
equipped SIM cards that communicate with the management 
software. The solution reduces irrigation costs by over 70% 
while increasing productivity and income by 20%.

Accessible products and services for 
people of all ages and abilities

a Orange takes accessibility into consideration right 
from the product design phase, developed with inclusivity in 
mind to meet customer needs and uses and ensure everyone 
is able to take advantage of digital technology.

In mainland France, Orange leverages its unique retail 

network of 247 Autonomy-certified stores to offer solutions for 
vulnerable, elderly, and disabled people.

The range of accessible Autonomy products and 

services is available in stores and online at orange.fr, and 
includes Viktor, a smart cushion that maintains 
intergenerational ties to help senior citizens, the SmartVision 
mobile phone, the Braille smartwatch Dot Watch, and 
Handieasy accessories to enable people in wheelchairs to use 

smartphones and tablets. In October 2019, Orange reiterated 
its commitment to accessibility when it signed a manifesto 
alongside several other French companies promoting the 
integration of disabled people in the workforce.

The Autonomy programme, run by the Group’s 

Accessibility Department, is being rolled out in several Orange 
operating countries in the form of services (Tactile Facile in 
France, Spain and Romania) and products (ranges vary across 
France, Spain and Poland), with work underway in Jordan 
(customer relations accessibility plan) and Tunisia (accessible 
customer service). The Group also became a member of the 
global initiative The Valuable 500, which brings together 
500 major corporations that have undertaken to employ 
people with disabilities.

Promoting digital solidarity

a Orange sets up and runs support and education 

programmes that harness digital tools as a means to 
economic and social integration. Since 2014, the Orange 
Foundation has been supporting vulnerable groups, namely 
young people and women by helping them access these 
programmes. 

Since 2014, 109 Solidarity FabLabs in 17 different 

countries have been inspiring and retraining young people 
who are not in employment or training. The FabLabs offer 
training in digital production so they can access jobs in the 
digital economy. The Foundation’s 250 Digital Houses active 
in 20 countries also empower and train thousands of women 
in digital technologies. In addition, 200,000 pupils learning at 
isolated schools without books or internet now have access 
to educational content through the Foundation’s 820 Digital 
Schools in 16 countries.

In total, the voluntary support of 8,000 Orange 

employees, investments of €23 million in 2019 and the help of 
460 partner associations allows the Foundation to help nearly 
two million people in 30 countries. To step up our community 
support, our new strategic plan pledges to extend the 
Foundation’s presence to all of our operating countries, and 
coordinate all philanthropic projects within the same structure 
so as to promote synergies between the various initiatives. 
Finally, in order to encourage every Orange employee to play 
a part, the Group aims to extend opportunities for skills 
sponsorships, which up until now were available only to 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

59

3.2

billion 

Of the 4 billion people in the world 
unable to access the internet,
3.2 billion live in areas with network 
coverage but are unable to connect 
because they lack the resources
or know-how. 

Our 2025 agenda
for digital inclusion

Social Responsibility

  Open an Orange Digital Center in all operating countries and in every  
operating division in France
  Set up a Foundation in every operating country and coordinate  
outreach programmes

Customers

   Create special offers for low-income households in every European  
operating country
  Expand the range of affordable smartphones in the Middle East and Africa
  Launch a mobile loan or rental plan along with a pre-owned phone range

Employees 
       Offer every employee in every country the opportunity to take part in an  

outreach programme

specific groups of employees. Everyone will now be able to 
get involved running digital workshops or volunteering in 
various projects supported by the Foundation. 

Educating children and parents 
about using digital technology 
responsibly

a We want to promote safe and informed use of digital 

technology for everyone. The Group has developed several 
online platforms dedicated to educating both children and 
parents about using digital technology responsibly, such as 
Bien vivre le digital (making technology work for you) in 
France, and Por un uso Love de la tecnologia (spreading love 
through technology) in Spain. These online platforms are 
complemented with face-to-face workshops and conferences. 

We support parents to better educate their children and 
incorporate parental control features so they can restrict 
access to certain content. In France, more than 1,800 people 
took part in Orange digital workshops in stores or at other 
locations in 2019. In our Better Internet for Kids programme, 
integrating child-friendly uses of products, services and 
content starts at the design phase. The #SuperCoders 
initiative, launched in some 20 countries in Europe and Africa, 
promotes digital creativity, collaboration, entrepreneurship and 
civic engagement. This programme has helped more than 
46,000 children since it was set up in 2014. Teaming up with 
industry experts, we also run awareness-raising and 
communications campaigns such as “For a Love use of 
technology”, a campaign run by Orange Spain to promote the 
responsible use of technology and the internet among young 
people and children. 

    
    
 
    
    
    
60

Orange

Combating 
climate change

Orange has a part to play in combating the climate challenge, which is why it has set itself an 
ambitious target to achieve net zero carbon by 2040. We therefore need to undertake 
unprecedented efforts to become more energy efficient, make greater use of renewable 
energy and integrate more of our production processes and business lines into the circular 
economy. Telecoms operators are also able to bring about the low-carbon transition, which 
means we have a duty to provide other industries with solutions to reduce their 
CO2 emissions.

The environmental impact of digital 
technology

a 3.5% of global CO2 emissions excluding 

deforestation: this is the estimated* environmental footprint of 
the digital sector, due primarily to the manufacture and use of 
electronic equipment. Risk factors include exhausting natural 
resources (such as metals and rare earth elements). It is also 
important to remember the digital industry generates 12 times 
less CO2 globally than manufacturing and seven times less 
than transport and construction.

Targeting net zero carbon by 2040

a In response to the climate challenge, Orange has 
committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2040, 10 years 
ahead of the target set by the GSMA and the recommendation 
made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 
Achieving net zero carbon means:

   Reducing our direct and indirect CO2 emissions 
(generated by energy consumption and product life 
cycles) by 30% by 2025 compared with 2015 levels.
    Initiating projects to capture the carbon generated 
by the residual emissions on which we have a direct 
impact.

        Helping avoid emissions outside our scope by 

selling products and services that are more carbon 
friendly than those currently on the market, or by 
financing certified and accredited projects to avoid 
emissions.

Reducing network consumption

a Orange’s networks and IT systems account for over 

80% of the Group’s CO2 emissions. Since 2010, we have been 
implementing energy action plans in partnership with our 
operating countries through our Green ITN programme. For 
example, we help to optimise the energy consumed by data 
centres such as the one opened in Antwerp, Belgium, in 
2019. We reduce physical equipment and electricity costs via 
free cooling systems and virtual servers. In 2019, despite 
increased traffic on our networks, we were able to reduce our 
CO2 emissions by 4.2% on the previous year. The Green ITN 
programme has enabled us to reduce CO2 equivalent by 
2.7 million tonnes over the period between 2010 and 2019. 
Furthermore, our cable ships are connected to the power 
source of their onshore base when they are in port, which is 
about a quarter of the time, avoiding the need to run the 
engines or generators to produce electricity on board and 
thereby significantly reducing emissions of gas and pollutants. 

    
    
2019 Integrated Annual Report

61

Net zero carbon 
by 2040

  CO2 emission reduction targets by 2025

  30% 
  50% 

  50% 

lower CO2 emissions in 2025 compared with 2015 levels
 of electricity from renewable sources in  
the Group’s energy mix
 of our vehicle fleet electrified

  Circular economy targets by 2025

  20%  of network installations reconditioned  
 100%  of Orange-branded pr

oducts developed in line with  

an eco-design approach

We also optimise the development of new networks. For 
example, 5G integrates various systems designed to consume 
less energy per quantity of data transported, such as deep 
standby mode.

Improving energy efficiency in buildings 
and transport systems

a In 2019, the CO2 emissions generated by buildings 
and transport systems fell 15.9% on the previous year as old 
infrastructure is gradually replaced with more efficient 
installations. Optimisation strategies have enabled several 
subsidiaries to reduce consumption of their IT and office 
equipment by 30% since 2015. In addition, we now have the 
largest company car-sharing pool in Europe, with over 
2,600 vehicles. We are also aiming to expand our stock of 
electrified vehicles (hybrid and electric), so they account for 
50% of our entire fleet in 2025. Furthermore, we have 
equipped approximately 270 rooms in France and nearly 
100 around the world with video conferencing technology to 
reduce the need for business travel. Orange MEA** has put in 
place a video conferencing solution in its new head office in 
Casablanca, which will help reduce business travel by 25% 
from 2021.

Increasing the proportion of renewable 
energy in our energy mix

a Currently, 26% of the Group’s electricity needs are 

met using energy from renewable sources, taking into account 
our own business activities and the energy mix in our operating 
countries. We are aiming to increase this proportion to 50% by 
2025, in particular by signing power purchase agreements 
(PPA) in Europe and expanding solar farms and power plants. 

We are focusing heavily on harnessing solar energy in 

Africa and the Middle East. Eight countries already benefit from 
solar energy through partnerships Orange has developed with 
energy services providers, known as ESCo (Energy Services 
Company) projects. At the same time, over 2,800 sites in the 
MEA region located in rural areas are equipped with solar 
panels.

Our three solar farms in Jordan cover 73% of the 
electricity needs of our subsidiary, and in time this figure will 
reach 100%. In Europe, an initial selection of 47 Orange Slovakia 
sites were fitted with solar panels, with a view to equipping 
between 5 and 10% of sites by 2023. 

*    The Energy and Carbon Footprint of the Global ICT and E&M Sectors 

2010–2015, J. Malmodin and D. Lundén, Sustainability 2018.

**  Orange Middle East and Africa.

 
 
 
 
62

Orange

Applying a circular economy approach to 
our devices and products

a At COP21, Orange pledged to integrate the circular 
economy into its processes and business lines. Our strategy 
now focuses on prolonging the life cycle of our products and 
devices (in particular on how they can be reused), optimising 
the way they are processed at the end of their life cycle and 
developing products and services in line with an eco-design 
approach. Within the Group, the OSCAR programme is used 
by all subsidiaries to industrialise the purchase and resale 
cycle for reconditioned IT and network equipment. It 
harnesses the circular economy to minimise the volume of 
new equipment purchased and therefore reduce our overall 
carbon footprint. We are aiming to recondition 20% of 
equipment by 2025, while maintaining the same level of 
service quality.

Environmental considerations are taken into account in 

the life cycle assessment of our products, from design to 
recycling. For example, the carbon footprint of the Livebox 5 
is 29% lower than the Livebox 4 as it is smaller and uses 
recycled plastic and fewer components. By 2025, 100% of 
the products marketed under the Orange brand will be 
developed in line with an eco-design approach. Furthermore, 
our retail network stocks the Fairphone 3, a modular 
smartphone designed to be fairer and more sustainable. 
To increase the proportion of our products that are 
recycled, we run collection drives and in the last 10 years we 
have collected nearly 15 million telephones in Europe, 
including 8 million in France. Through our partnership 
established in 2009 with the French community charity 
Emmaüs, we have set up collection stations in France and 
five countries in Africa for unwanted mobile phones, which 
gave rise to community action creating jobs locally in France 

and Africa. At the same time, we now collect nearly 90% of 
our multimedia devices (Liveboxes, set-top boxes and 
Airboxes). The equipment can be used, repaired and 
reconditioned up to five times. In addition to reusing 
equipment in this way, we run campaigns to raise awareness 
among customers and employees about environmentally 
friendly behaviour, like monitoring the energy consumption of 
devices and appliances that are plugged in or charging, 
recycling devices and appliances, opting for digital billing and 
minimising plastic waste.

Protecting biodiversity through 
partnerships

a Orange applies its digital expertise to several 
biodiversity research programmes. In 2014, we became a 
partner to the CREA Mont Blanc Research Center for Alpine 
Ecosystems, an NGO that analyses the impact of the climate 
challenge on biodiversity. Orange helps by collecting, 
processing and popularising scientific information for 
decision makers and society in general. Our subsidiary, 
Orange Marine, also established a partnership with the 
European Research Infrastructure Consortium Euro-Argo and 
the ocean chapter of the Global Climate Observing System 
(GCOS). Furthermore, Orange Business Services joined the 
consortium set up by Airbus and Capgemini to work on the 
Sobloo project, a one-stop-shop to process all geospatial 
data on the DIAS platform (Data and Information Access 
Service). Sobloo offers individuals, businesses and 
organisations the world over access to data from the 
Copernicus programme, paving the way to and new era in the 
analysis of Earth observation data. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

63

Digital 
technology – 
part of the 
solution for 
tackling the climate challenge

Quentin-en-Yvelines. The widespread 
use of connected devices and 
appliances and the greater processing 
of data can lead to innovative solutions 
that optimise traffic circulation, energy 
consumption and waste collection as 
well as minimise the consequences of 
natural disasters. 

a Uses of digital technology are 

growing considerably. It is therefore 
essential to measure and minimise the 
impact by developing solutions that 
meet the genuine needs of customers. 
We have developed offers with net 
positive carbon footprints, such as 
collaborative tools, fleet management 
and smart buildings. The drop in the 
carbon footprint achieved through some 
of these offers can be estimated using a 
carbon calculator.

We strongly believe digital 
technology can bring about solutions 
that have a positive environmental 
impact on other industries in the 
economy, including transport, energy, 
construction, healthcare and education. 
Our research labs and collaborative 
innovation projects help design and 
develop sustainable alternative services 
and solutions for smart cities and 

energy networks, the Internet of Things 
(IoT), smart metering and multimodal, 
environmentally friendly mobility. Big 
data and AI have a role to play in 
improving the performance of energy 
efficient solutions for urban 
development, transport and industrial 
machinery. For example, France’s 
Environment and Energy Management 
Agency (ADEME) has calculated that 
data analysis could make energy 
savings of 20% by 2030 in French 
manufacturing. 

Since setting up the Smart Cities 
programme in 2011, Orange has helped 
regions with urban environmental 
management, for example by applying 
IoT solutions to expand monitoring. For 
example, in France, they monitor 
temperature and air quality in nurseries 
and schools in Narbonne and measure 
the water level in reservoirs in Saint-

64

Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report

65

66

Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report

67

Ambitions

Our Engage 2025 strategic plan revolves around four bold ambitions to 
enable us to tackle the changes in our industry. These ambitions 
involve reinventing our operator model, accelerating in growth areas, 
placing data and AI at the heart of our innovation model and  
co-creating a future-facing company.

68

Orange

Ambition 1

Reinventing
our operator 
model

2019 Integrated Annual Report

69

As the leading 4G provider and number 
one Fibre to the Home (FTTH) operator in 
Europe, Orange capitalises on its head 
start in broadband and mobile networks to 
offer its customers enhanced connectivity 
with faster speeds and new complementary 
services. The Group is also aiming to 
optimise, develop and better exploit its 
infrastructure to strengthen its leadership.

70

Orange

Enhanced connectivity 
for all our customers 

Our high performing network infrastructure gives us the opportunity to offer an unmatched 
customer experience. However, we also have to continually reinvent the way we position 
ourselves against our competitors and provide enhanced connectivity, both in broadband and 
mobile networks. We deliver this through increasingly fast throughput speeds and new 
complementary services.

Faster throughputs at home and at work

a Orange was the first broadband operator in Europe to

make the strategic decision to roll out Fibre to the Home and 
provide the Group’s operating countries with very high-speed 
broadband. Our FTTH packages bring retail customers 
speeds of up to 2 Gb/s, and speeds will soon reach 10 Gb/s 
as we progressively upgrade infrastructure, ready for when 
faster throughputs are required. At end-2019, 39.5 million 
homes throughout the world were connectable to Orange’s 
very high-speed broadband, including 16.3 million in France, 
14.9 million in Spain, 4.2 million in Poland and over 500,000 in 
Slovakia. By 2023, we will connect over 65 million homes in 
Europe to fibre by deploying our own cables as well as using 
third-party networks, thereby consolidating our leadership 
position on the continent. 

At the same time, in order to guarantee maximum-
capacity broadband access for our European customers, we 
will improve “Homelan” connectivity, their in-home network. 
Using smart Wi-Fi technology, set-top boxes and Wi-Fi 
repeaters will optimise Wi-Fi resources to ensure a robust and 
stable connection.

The Fibre to the Office (FTTO) network meets the 
specific needs of businesses keen to take advantage of fibre 

optic performance at their major and critical business 
facilities, with a choice of upward (uploading data to the 

  network) and downward (downloading data from the internet) 
data flow up to 10 Gb/s. The Group is aiming to grow its 
market share in BtoB connectivity and support businesses as 
they transition to fibre. By 2025, we are seeking to achieve a 
fourfold increase in the number of business customers using 
fibre in France.

As uses change, companies are increasingly looking for 

flexibility and responsiveness. That’s why we are continuing 
to virtualise network functions, for example by integrating 
cutting-edge SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) 
technology, which makes it possible to centrally automate, 
programme and control end-to-end network infrastructure 
from remote sites to the cloud with guaranteed levels of 
performance and security. Network Function Virtualisation will 
progress in the coming years, driven in particular by 
advanced 5G services. Orange Business Services supports a 
number of companies through the transition – for example 
Sony, which in 2019 chose our Flexible SD-WAN solution to 
transform its global network into a single automated, smart 
system. Its network will connect over 500 locations across 
50 countries and five continents to optimise performance, 
security and scalability of operations.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

71

10 Gb/s

Fibre optic broadband speeds
by 2025

Over

65 

million

homes connectable to FTTH by 2023

Content that everyone will love, available on 
every device

New services for the homes 
of the future

a With broadband speeds gradually increasing and 

a We continue to develop offers that make homes safer 

home connectivity continually improving, this is a timely 
moment for Orange to expand its content distribution 
activities. That’s why we’re developing partnerships with 
content services providers (including Canal+, Discovery, 
Netflix and Eleven Sports) and rights owners for OCS and 
VOD (HBO, Sony and the French film industry) to provide 
access to the best content for our customers. Set up in 2017, 
Orange Content spearheads this strategy and supports all the 
Group’s operating countries. As an aggregator and distributor 
of content, we aim to become a “super aggregator” so that 
our customers can enjoy all their content services through a 
single interface that’s simple, intuitive and centralised. 
To stay in step with our customers’ changing uses, we will 
extend the Orange TV experience across all their connected 
devices. We have also adopted an ambitious policy to 
produce and coproduce films and series through our 
subsidiary Orange Studio. Our premium content service OCS 
totalled 3.1 million subscribers at end-2019 and is available 
through most distributors in France as well as directly over 
the internet. 

and easier to manage. In France in 2019, we successfully 
launched Protected Home, our remote home surveillance 
system that detects intrusions, as well as our Connected 
Home mobile app for installing and remotely managing smart 
household appliances. Similarly, in Spain, our Alarma solution 
allows users to remotely manage security equipment with their 
smartphone, while Orange Smart Home manages smart 
devices and appliances remotely or via a smartphone or a 
smart speaker in the home. Furthermore, Serena offers an 
emergency remote assistance service for the elderly using an 
app or directly via a button on their mobile phone. 

In November 2019, we launched our own smart speaker 

developed with Deutsche Telekom, featuring an integrated 
virtual voice assistant named Djingo. The technology helps to 
simplify services, including making hands-free phone calls, 
using voice controls to operate Orange TV and controlling 
smart lighting and sockets through Connected Home. 

 
72

Orange

The essential role of wholesale

a In addition to services for retail and business 
customers, Orange sells wholesale services to other 
operators. Offering enhanced connectivity to wholesale 
customers – specialist telephony providers, domestic and 
international operators in the wholesale and retail markets as 
well as content and internet service providers — broadens the 
range of solutions for their specific needs in fixed or mobile 
broadband.

The aim is to provide more flexibility in network capacity, 

lower waiting times and more secure solutions. The customer 
journey is becoming increasingly digital, and we are looking to 
make large network capacities available in just a few clicks. 
Furthermore, to provide Orange customers with a simplified 
experience, aggregation with offers from other infrastructure 
operators is key. These other fixed infrastructure operators can 
in turn become customers in our domestic markets using our 
civil engineering infrastructure and hosting solutions. Orange is 
also favourably positioned when it comes to content delivery.
In the wholesale mobile market, Orange offers national 
and international roaming services to virtual mobile network 
operators along with targeted solutions for IoT markets.

Europe’s leading provider of 4G coverage

a In Europe, Orange continues to develop its 4G and 

4G+ mobile networks in order to increase speeds and 
population coverage. At end-2019, coverage rates reached 
nearly 100% in countries such as Poland (99.9%), France 
(99%) and Romania (98.1%). In six of our eight operating 
countries in Europe, we remain the operator with the most 
customers, over 43 million in total. In 2019, the Orange mobile 
network was ranked No. 1 in France for the ninth consecutive 
year by Arcep (France’s regulatory authority for electronic 
communications, postal and print media distribution). In 
addition, our coverage policy targets the most sparsely 
populated areas so we can bring very high-speed broadband 
and fibre to rural communities.

A turning point for 5G

aIn November 2019, Orange deployed the first 

commercial 5G networks in the three Romanian cities of 
Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iasi. Over the course of 2020, we 
will continue to roll out 5G where it is needed in most of the 
Group’s European operating countries depending on the 
availability of bandwidth and changes in customer needs. We 
want to provide coverage for more than 85% of the population 
in France by 2023.

As soon as it goes live, 5G will provide much faster 

speeds with more bandwidth compared to 4G. From 2023, 
when our core networks will have transitioned to 5G, we will 
be able to reduce transfer delay and prioritise certain network 
slices for critical uses and specific services such as network 
security and industrial 5G. Furthermore, 5G will gradually 
become 10 times more energy efficient than other mobile 
networks for comparable uses by 2025. Such increased 
efficiency will be achieved through a number of ways, 
including deep standby mode for base station equipment. 
Orange pushed to integrate this functionality in end-to-end 
requirements for 5G both at the NGMN operator forum as well 
as with the 3GPP standards body. Other significant 
developments include new optimisation features through 
on-demand architecture and artificial intelligence. With 5G’s 
technical performance, more use cases will emerge for 
business customers. The new network will bring about a major 
step change in the industry, making it possible to automate 
and optimise production lines, reduce QC issues, control 
machinery remotely and carry out predictive maintenance. 
Edge computing, an open distributed computing paradigm, 
could eventually allow data to be processed as close to the 
source as possible. The volume of data collected would 
increase tenfold along with processing and transmission 
speeds, opening the door for business to enter the age of 
real-time computing. 5G will offer retail customers smoother 
mobile connectivity and enhanced immersive experiences 
(virtual reality, augmented reality and high-definition 360° 
video) for educational, cultural and sports content. It will also 
enable virtualised computing and gaming, standardising 
mobile cloud-based apps.

Imagining the future of 5G with our 
customers and partners

a Since 2012, we have been developing 5G in 
collaboration with research partners, universities as well as 
standards and regulatory bodies. We carry out tests and trials 
with manufacturing companies, business customers and 
start-ups to anticipate future uses. With that in mind, we are 
leading a collaborative innovation initiative with several French 
and European partners focusing on the factory of the future, 
predictive maintenance, connected and autonomous vehicles, 
the travel experience and the immersive sports experience. 
Joining forces with technological equipment supplier LACROIX 
Group, Orange is looking to get involved in developing the 
factory of the future by testing 5G use cases at the group’s 
industrial campus and assessing the impact on production 
efficiency. Specifically, the industrial 5G network will operate 
autonomous connected trolleys to transport materials. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

73

5G — a game 
changer for business

An exceptional tool to step up the digital 
transformation of businesses

2019

5G deployed in 11 European 
cities and initial customer 
testing conducted.

First 100% 5G (standalone)
data and voice call made in 
Valencia, Spain.  

Stéphane Richard presented 
Orange’s ambition to develop 
future 5G uses to more than 
1,000 business customers 
present at the Orange 
Business Summit.

5G testing conducted using 
the 26 GHz frequency band 
with Group partners and 
businesses at the Orange 
Gardens 5G Lab.

Commercial 5G launched in 
Romania.

Orange Industry 4.0 Campus 
launched, a 5G test hub for 
businesses located in the port 
of Antwerp, Belgium.

5G progressively rolled out  
at existing 4G sites in major 
cities and other economic 
activity centres. 

5G goes live in European 
countries based on bandwidth 
availability.

2020
2021

2023

Core networks transition  
to 5G.

a The powerful throughput and 
reduced waiting times enabled by 5G 
will open up a new world of possibilities 
for businesses, revolutionising their 
operations. Network slicing, which 
allocates “slices” of networks to service 
use, will increase the reliability and 
security of connectivity. 5G will 
contribute to the widespread adoption 
of the Internet of Things (IoT) – millions 
of connected devices and appliances, 
such as connected sensors and 360° 
cameras in smart cities, robots in 
manufacturing and healthcare, etc. 
communicating with each other and 
able to be controlled remotely. 5G’s 
transmission reliability will also expand 
the use of critical IoT in sectors where 
real-time data transfer is crucial, such 
as in healthcare with telemedicine, or in 
transport with connected and 
autonomous vehicles. 

Once it becomes possible for 
vehicles to communicate with each 
other, as well as other road users 
(pedestrians and cyclists) and 
infrastructure (such as roads, road signs 
and traffic lights), apps will help reduce 
accidents and congestion, improving 
road safety and journey times. Such 
technological progress could also have 
a significant impact on distribution 
companies and their fuel consumption. 

5G will also make it possible to 
accurately track deliveries from online 
retailers. And in the case of a production 
line malfunction, real-time monitoring 
would immediately recalculate the 
production plan and directly inform the 
end customer of a potential delivery 
delay. 

For businesses, many use cases 

will impact both the workspace – the 
physical or virtual space in which 
people work – and the workplace, the 
physical space we occupy when we 
work. 5G capacities will enable 
increased and more widespread use of 
virtual, augmented and mixed reality. 
Virtual reality will be useful for training 
and remote meetings, while technicians 
equipped with augmented reality 
glasses can be assisted remotely by 
colleagues to guide them through 
service operations. Such new uses will 
also allow companies to reduce their 
carbon footprint by reducing travel. 

74

Orange

More open, higher value 
network infrastructure

Our network infrastructure represents an asset that sets us apart from the competition. 
That’s why we’re looking to optimise, develop and capitalise on it while remaining in control. 

Continuing to roll out fibre  

a We continue to invest in fibre broadband services 

and remain committed to deploying the technology, 
particularly in France, by investing in both our own 
infrastructure as well as Public Initiative Networks (PINs) that 
bring broadband to sparsely populated areas. By 2025, 
Orange will make over 20 million homes in France connectable 
to very high-speed broadband, twice as many as there are 
today. To speed up deployment in rural areas, Orange will set 
up a new subsidiary in 2020 called Orange Concessions, 
which will bring together the four million connectable PIN 
sockets owned by local authorities and managed by Orange.
In Spain and Poland, we’re working on a project called 

“Fiber Companies” (or “FiberCos”) to share future FTTH 
roll-outs with other operators. By 2025, FiberCos aim to own a 
long-term infrastructure asset unlike any other in Europe.

Decommissioning old networks 

a Orange is preparing for France to transition from 

copper to fibre. Once the 2025 plan has deployed fibre 
throughout almost the entire country, we will start 

decommissioning copper infrastructure and switching all 
landlines to the new network. The work is set to begin in 2023 
and projected to finish around 2030. We remain committed to 
supporting every one of our network users through their 
transition to fibre.

Expanding our networks across the globe

a Projects such as the PEACE submarine cable, which 

connects Europe to Asia via Pakistan and East Africa, will 
strengthen our position as a leader in the submarine cable 
market. Today, Orange is a majority investor in over 
40 submarine cables, and it continues to invest in various 
projects to provide enriched, high-quality connectivity across 
the globe. Orange Marine, which installs and maintains 
submarine cables for the Group and other operators, 
continues its activities, diversifying by installing several new 
cables in 2019, including one connecting Patagonia and the 
islands in the south of Chile to the rest of the world.

The Wholesale & International Networks division is also 

continuing to invest in developing its infrastructure 
internationally. It is expanding its international networks by 
increasing its presence throughout the world and creating 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

75

40,000 mobile towers 
directly owned in Europe

France 
Spain 
Poland 
Romania 
Belgium 
Slovakia 
Moldova 
Luxembourg 

17,100  sites
7,700  sites
5,200  sites
3,600  sites
3,100  sites
1,800  sites
1,500  sites
200  sites

synergies between its retail and business telphony and IP 
networks. Furthermore, it will build a new international 
backbone network in West Africa, connecting eight countries 
through a combination of land and submarine fibre optic 
cables to meet the growing need for connectivity in the 
region.

More open and shared mobile networks

a In order to optimise the speed, coverage and cost of 

deploying our mobile network throughout Europe, we share 
part of our infrastructure with other operators. Agreements for 
radio access network sharing (RAN sharing) have been set up 
in Spain, Poland and Romania. In Belgium, the RAN sharing 
agreement between Proximus and Orange Belgium covers 
2G, 3G and 4G technologies, and will allow for a faster, more 
comprehensive 5G roll-out. The shared network will improve 
coverage and increase the consolidated number of mobile 
sites. Both companies will retain full control of their own 
spectrum resources and continue to independently operate 
their core networks in order to guarantee their own unique 
service and customer experience. In Spain, we have 
expanded our RAN sharing agreement with Vodafone to cities 

with populations of less than 175,000. The number of shared 
sites is expected to reach 14,800. The company has also 
extended the fixed and mobile network agreements with 
MasMovil and Euskaltel. RAN sharing agreements guarantee 
environmental efficiency as they reduce the number of 
equipment deployments. 

In Europe, Orange owns 40,000 mobile towers – both 

masts and rooftop structures – 17,000 of which are in France. 
With the roll-out of 5G, increasing network densification and 
rising demand for connectivity in rural areas, our tower 
infrastructure is one of our most valuable assets. With our 
strategic locations, the potential to increase occupation rates 
is strong. To best capitalise on this infrastructure, we are 
setting up “Tower Companies” that will manage our towers in 
France and Spain from 2020, followed by the rest of our 
operating countries in Europe. Managed by a special division 
within Orange, these TowerCos will increase rates of tower 
sharing and improve operational efficiency and mobile CAPEX. 
In the long term, we plan to consolidate all or part of the 
regional TowerCos into a larger European TowerCo and 
increase our appeal in the broader European tower market to 
take advantage of every opportunity for consolidation. 

76

Orange

Ambition 2

Accelerating
in growth 
areas

2019 Integrated Annual Report

77

Orange is looking to become the 
benchmark digital operator in the Middle 
East and Africa by capitalising on the 
growth of mobile data and its multi-service 
strategy. The Group will maintain its 
leadership position in connectivity in the 
BtoB market and continue to expand 
integration services. Finally, Orange Bank 
will extend its financial services to all of our 
operating countries in Europe and Orange 
Money will expand its range of services in 
the MEA zone.

78 

Making Orange MEA* the 
benchmark operator 
for digital services in the 
Middle East and Africa 

Active for more than 20 years in the Middle East and Africa, Orange has set its sights on 
becoming the region’s preferred multi-service operator by 2025 by focusing on digital services, 
reinventing the customer experience and opening up the digital ecosystem with greater voice, 
data and mobile money connectivity. To achieve this goal, we will harness our mobile and 
distribution networks, customer insights and winning multi-service operator strategy. 

* Orange Middle East and Africa 

Broader mobile coverage 

Financial services powering our strategy 

a By 2021, there is expected to be one billion 

a The driving force behind our multi-service operator 

smartphones in Africa and mobile data traffc will have 
increased drastically. To keep in step with rising demand, we’re 
continuing to expand our network, which numbered over 
30,000 sites in late 2019, primarily located in rural or extremely 
rural areas. 4G is currently available in almost all of our MEA 
operating countries and TDD-LTE, providing 4G broadband, is 
available in eight countries. Network-sharing agreements help 
to expand coverage while keeping investment and operation 
costs low. We’re deploying innovative and energy-effcient 
technologies in our infrastructure, namely lighter, less energy-
intensive towers to provide coverage in rural areas. As both 
smartphone ownership and 4G coverage grow, digital inclusion 
is improving in our operating countries. Even in the most remote 
areas, people can use their mobile phones to easily access 
reliable fnancial and health services, energy provision and 
digital content. We are also planning to make our entire 
multi-service offer available via a one-stop-shop application 
called WeOrange. 

strategy in the MEA is our money transfer and mobile payment 
service, Orange Money. Since the service was launched in 
2008, millions of people excluded from the conventional 
banking system have been able to conduct fnancial 
transactions through our quick, secure and reliable service. 
With more than 45 million customers and growth rates 
exceeding 14% every year, Orange Money has earned the 
trust of people in Africa, demonstrating the importance of 
secure, high quality services. This business line represented 
27% of revenue growth and 8% of revenues for the region. In 
2019, Orange Money sustained its exponential growth and 
boosted fnancial services in the region by providing an 
enhanced customer experience to its users and new 
smartphone owners alike. In 2020, Orange Money will expand 
services into Morocco and Jordan. 

In July 2019, we obtained a banking licence from the 

Central Bank of West African States in order to launch Orange 
Bank Africa in our operating countries in the West African 
Monetary Union. This vote of confdence is a testament to the 

Orange 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
79 

energy. In late 2019, Greenlight Planet joined Bboxx and Niwa 
as offcial Orange partners for providing clean energy 
solutions. Greenlight Planet is the largest supplier of prepaid 
solar energy products in Africa, and together we will be rolling 
out its Sun King off-grid energy systems to homes in remote 
parts of Burkina Faso. 

Content-driven digitisation in Africa 

a Content represents an essential component of 
Orange’s multi-service strategy in Africa and the Middle East, 
as it will help promote access and develop its local operator 
roots. To do so, we will be extending our local production and 
pay-TV offers. 

In September 2019, Orange signed a partnership with 

Canal+ Afrique to make Canal+ pay-TV packages available to 
Orange customers in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020. At the same 
time, we’re also investing in local production, namely in 
Senegal with season 7 of Idoles and in Côte d’Ivoire with 
Assinie. Orange customers have access to Sonatel’s new 
video-streaming mobile app Wido, which features a large 
library of flms and series to which Orange owns exclusive 
streaming rights. Orange has also entered into distribution 
partnerships with several third-party content providers such as 
beIN SPORTS in Egypt. 

Orange is actively promoting the international rise of 
eSports, organising in 2019 its second annual pan-African 
video game tournament, the Orange eSports Experience. This 
year, the competition, which is the largest of its kind, brought 
together 12 countries and 36 champions for the fnals in Tunis. 
The 2020 tournament is due to take place in December in 
Kinshasa. 

Lastly, Orange stepped up innovation in Africa by 
launching a streaming library of ebooks, magazines and more 
with French start-up partner YouScribe, available in Senegal, 
Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. 

Keeping pace with advances in e-health in 
the Middle East and Africa 

20% 

of revenues generated 
by Orange in the Middle East and 
Africa will come from multi-service 
offers by 2025 

value of our efforts to improve fnancial inclusion in the region, 
and Orange Bank Africa offers further proof of our 
commitment to provide increasingly inclusive fnancial 
services, including savings and loans. 

Providing vital access to energy 

a With 60% of people in Africa living without access to 

a Orange is supporting regional governments by 

reliable energy sources, this utility represents an important 
growth driver in the MEA. As a telecoms operator, we’re able 
to provide all communities with new services such as 
energy-effcient solar power equipment, making it possible to 
study, work, enjoy entertainment and charge devices and 
appliances without having to leave home. Solar kits with or 
without energy-effcient TVs were installed in over 
20,000 homes in off-grid areas in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, 
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Madagascar. In areas 
with access to grid power, we installed back-up solar kits in 
14,000 homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 
equipped 650 homes in Burkina Faso with smart metering 
technology that displays real-time energy consumption 
feedback so customers can adjust their behaviour to save 

promoting e-health services. In partnership with the 
Moroccan Ministry of Health and the Global Fund to Fight 
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, we launched an e-health pilot 
project in Morocco that will improve care for HIV and 
tuberculosis patients with the long-term goal to eradicate 
these epidemics in the country. Through a new call and text 
notifcation system, patients beneft from faster, more 
effective communication with healthcare providers. We’ve 
also made it easier than ever to schedule appointments, 
which increases access to care, and appointment 
notifcations help to prevent patients from missing their 
consultation. Overall, signifcant improvements have already 
been seen in the level of patient care, particularly for people 
living with chronic health conditions. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
80

Orange

Accelerating the 
development of IT services 
and cybersecurity

Our identity as a telecoms operator and our expertise as a services integrator give us a unique 
understanding in how to integrate, deliver and orchestrate IT networks and services. We 
capitalise on this strength to build an end-to-end offer combining our solutions with those of 
our partners to create unmatched added value. Orange is a digital service provider that grew 
from a network designed to connect, protect and innovate to drive long-term growth for 
businesses and organisations.

Harnessing data analytics to drive 
performance and innovation

Gathering and exploiting data with 
specialist cloud services

a Across the entire economy – in industry, healthcare, 
transport and the media – data analytics and AI remain central 
to our offers. By merging Orange Business Services and 
Business & Decision, we increased the ability of our 2,400 data 
and AI experts to support companies to process and analyse 
their data. Orange is also working with data specialists to 
expand the innovative ways in which data can be exploited. For 
example, our partnership with four bodies from the public 
(Haropa - Port du Havre and Le Havre Seine Métropole) and 
private (Cisco and Soget) sector has helped launch a Smart 
Data Services platform in Le Havre, northern France, which 
reduces congestion in goods being transported through the 
port area and improves passenger connections for local 
residents by making it easier for them to use several modes of 
transport to get from A to B. We are also continuing to develop 
the Flux Vision solution, which processes over 15 billion 
technical datasets each day in Europe.

a There are many cloud-based data storage solutions, 

including the public cloud, private or hybrid clouds and 
multi-cloud services. With the rise of edge computing, 
organisations can also process data locally without migrating it 
to a central cloud system. We support businesses to define their 
strategy and help them best manage these complex systems, 
while also developing specific solutions on the ground wherever 
necessary. The acquisition of Basefarm Holding AS 
strengthened our offer by enriching our expertise in state-of-
the-art technology for data management, critical application 
management, big data and multi-cloud services and extending 
the geographic coverage of our cloud services. Midea, the 
world’s leading supplier of consumer electronics and robotics, 
chose Orange Business Services as its exclusive supplier to 
reinvent its global “industrial platform”, which will be rolled out in 
Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The French 
public employment integration body (Epide) has also placed 
their trust in our services to enhance the agility of their 
professional software by developing native cloud apps for its 
4,000 users. To become more agile and innovative, future-facing 
businesses must profoundly transform their business model 
and technology, in particular by moving to native cloud services.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

81

Over

50%

of BtoB revenue 
will be generated through new 
connectivity services 
(SD-WAN, 5G) and IT services in 
2023 

E-health: using digital 
technology to improve 
healthcare

The teams from Orange Healthcare and Enovacom are helping healthcare providers in 
France and around the world to navigate their digital transformation. Orange 
Healthcare is one of the few suppliers to be certified as a health data host in France to 
provide physical host centres, physical and virtual infrastructure and software 
platforms. Our interoperable solutions encourage sharing and dialogue between 
structures by allowing communication between different healthcare software and 
optimising the management of daily data flows. Our voicemail (MSSanté) and file 
transfer (BlueFiles) services ensure the secure transmission of healthcare data required 
to coordinate treatment. Enovacom Surycat offers a smart solution to manage critical 
communications, which is used as part of France’s national emergency response “plan 
blanc” to cope with the increase in demand for healthcare. At the same time, we are 
working to digitise the patient journey using in particular Memoquest, a chatbot to 
monitor outpatient care that is able to hold personalised dialogue with patients using 
AI algorithms. Furthermore, our Healthcare Data Warehouses make it easier to exploit 
healthcare data for clinical and research needs.

Gaining a strategic advantage through 
network and data security

a As IT services migrate to the cloud, the question of 

security becomes increasingly critical. Drawing on the 
expertise of Orange Cyberdefense, we guarantee the security 
of all our cloud offers, extending our extremely secure 
technology to native cloud solutions. Through the acquisition 
of SecureLink, the market leading independent provider of 
cybersecurity in Europe, and SecureData, the UK’s largest 
independent cybersecurity service provider, Orange has 
considerably strengthened its ability to support its customers 
in all regions to combat cyber threats. With 26 detection 
centres in 13 countries, Orange Cyberdefense analyses over 
50 billion pieces of statistical information each day. 

Following the fire in Notre Dame Cathedral, our teams 

offered their support to the French Heritage Foundation to 
safeguard its website and recognise attempted fraudulent 
transactions and identity fraud. In 2019, we also launched an 
escape game to raise awareness among businesses about 
the importance of cybersecurity. 

With Orange Cyberdefense, the Group is positioned as 

the leading provider of cybersecurity services in Europe, 
generating €708 million in revenue.

Revolutionising uses with IoT

a The Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionising business 

models and the daily lives of users with innovations such as  
autonomous vehicles, public transport management, industrial 
campuses and urban monitoring. Orange Business Services is 
helping to bring about this transformation with a number of 
turnkey IoT solutions that combine connectivity, data 
collection, security and real-time data processing. We also 
provide professional apps so customers can easily operate 
their facilities, improving both operational efficiency and 
service quality. Orange also draws strength from partnerships, 
such as the collaboration with Mobileye, an Intel subsidiary 
and leading developer of advanced driver-assistance systems 
(ADAS), to interconnect its cutting-edge anti-collision 
software. Named Mobileye 8 Connect™, this technology 
marks a new milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by 
making roads safer. Each IoT project receives end-to-end 
support from a team of 500 IoT experts and 400 developers 
who work on over 1,000 software and integration projects 
each year. In 2019, the Group managed over 18 million 
connected devices and appliances, representing 330 million 
datasets processed every minute, through its global IoT 
coverage enabled by over 500 roaming agreements. 

82

Orange

Continuing to expand 
financial services across all 
our operating countries

Boosted by synergies between our telecoms and banking-insurance businesses, financial 
services are driving growth in Europe as well as Africa and the Middle East. We’re gearing up 
to broaden the scope of Orange Money services available in Africa and the Middle East and 
capitalise on the success of Orange Bank in France by deploying the model throughout 
Europe.   

Expanding presence and services for 
Orange Money 

a Orange aims to become one of the leading providers 

of mobile financial services in Africa and the Middle East. A 
major growth driver in Africa, Orange Money is present in 
16 countries and serves 45 million customers who rely on 
mobile services to make their lives easier each day. With 
220,000 points of sale throughout the continent, it’s a 
convenient solution for cash deposits and withdrawals. It also 
promotes economic development, which is why these 
services are growing in so many countries. Indeed, many 
governments and institutions now use Orange Money, such as 
Côte d’Ivoire to pay school enrolment fees, Guinea to pay 
vehicle taxes or Mali to pay pensions.

We will continue to grow by entering new markets in 
Morocco and Jordan, while also making the entire Orange 
Money ecosystem digital. For example, a banking app already 
enables customers to better manage their finances and 
transactions, and we’ve implemented the first Chatbot 
Messenger in Côte d’Ivoire. The next step is to develop the 
use of QR codes for customer payments. 

Furthermore, following success in Madagascar, we’ll be 
extending savings and loan services to new countries in 2020 

and building alliances with new banking partners as well as 
with Orange Bank Africa. Operations are set to begin this year 
after the Group received its licence from the Central Bank of 
West African States in July 2019. 

Ramping up deployment of banking and 
financial services in Europe

a Launching Orange Bank in 2017 was a landmark 

moment in our Essentials2020 plan. Attracting over 
500,000 customers in just two years – an average of 
20,000 new customers per month – Orange Bank has 
confirmed its potential for commercial success in France. Of 
these customers, 75% joined to open a bank account and 
25% to apply for a loan, which translated into growth rates for 
their business that are far above the average achieved with 
neobanks.

This success encouraged the Group to launch mobile 

banking in Spain in late 2019. Orange Bank Spain offers a 
number of new features and advantages, including a high-
interest savings account, a payment sharing service for 
customers to transfer money and manage payments between 
groups of people, for example to pay utility bills or a Netflix 
subscription together.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

83

5

million

Orange Bank
customers in Europe
and over 10 million
in Africa and the 
Middle East by 2023

Orange Bank celebrates 
its two-year anniversary

Since 2017, Orange Bank has established a strong foothold in the 
banking sector through regular new service offers. In 2019, we 
launched the Visa Premium card, for which 26,000 customers signed 
up, allowing them to make purchases and withdraw money free of 
charge anywhere in the world. Likewise, in the past year we have 
integrated text payment request capabilities and, as of October 2019, 
we offer eligible customers financing for equipment purchased in 
Orange stores. Lastly, we have made Google Pay available to 
customers with NFC-enabled Android phones, allowing them to enjoy 
its highly appreciated mobile payment advantages as well as monitor 
their account in real time and transfer money via text message.

By 2025, Orange Bank will be rolled out in every 
European country Orange currently operates in, with the goal 
of reaching five million customers by 2023.

In France, the easy-to-use mobile services are highly 

competitive and key to winning over customers. The Orange 
Bank mobile app was one of the first of its kind to incorporate 
artificial intelligence to improve the customer experience. Our 
motto is to reinvent banking by placing trust and simplicity at 
the heart of the customer relationship. In keeping pace with 
modern lifestyles and responding to the growing demand for 
better personal financial management solutions, Orange Bank 
offers customers a banking experience that’s unlike any other.
That’s why transparency and accessibility are central at 

Orange Bank. With zero income requirements, eligible 
customers can enjoy access to our basic self-service banking 
tools free of charge. We provide banking services through a 
network that combines both human and virtual assistance. In 
300 Orange stores in France, customers can sign up for 
banking services with advisors who are certified to act as 
intermediaries in banking operations and payment services. 
Customer relations are further enhanced by our virtual 
assistant, Djingo, which provides round-the-clock support. 
Since its launch, Djingo has handled over 2 million 
conversations with customers, and advisors are on standby in 

Customer Relations Centres in Montreuil and Amiens in 
France, whenever it’s necessary to escalate the call.

Orange Bank’s growth is built on creating value and 
providing an unmatched customer experience. For the second 
year in a row, the French rating agency D-Rating ranked it the 
Best Digital Proposition based on 420 digital performance 
criteria. Meanwhile, Orange Bank’s app store ratings have 
steadily improved, reaching 4.5/5 stars in the App Store and 
4.3/5 in the Play Store.

Building on this progress, we’ve also further developed 
our strategy of creating combined offers with other branches 
of Orange and Groupama. Customers with a Visa Premium 
card are eligible for financing services and, since July 2019, 
5% cash back on any equipment bought in Orange stores. 
The Groupama insurance group offers our customers an 
exclusive deal on a car loan when purchasing their auto 
insurance. Lastly, the partnership Orange forged with property 
services platform Nexity in late 2019 will simplify the home 
loans we offer and lead to new products, namely in insurance. 
We’re now assessing options to provide insurance services to 
professionals and small businesses. 

84

Orange

Ambition 3

Placing data 
and AI 
at the heart 
of our 
innovation 
model

2019 Integrated Annual Report

85

These new technologies will enable Orange 
to improve the customer experience that 
combines the best in human and digital 
services, which are easy to use, specialised 
and responsible. We will harness data and 
AI technology to improve our networks so 
as to optimise the deployment of new 
mobile and broadband sites as well as 
facilitate maintenance while also reducing 
costs and enhancing service quality. AI will 
also help to make our internal processes 
and back office activities more efficient.

86

Orange

Augmenting 
the customer experience

Delivering an unmatched customer experience was a key objective for our previous 
Essentials2020 strategy. To achieve it, we transformed our networks to meet expectations for 
speed, simplified our offers, stepped up the pace of our digital transformation and developed 
the Smart Store concept. Today, we are capitalising on this success and integrating 
cutting-edge technology to combine the best in professional and digital services and move 
towards a genuinely augmented customer experience.

A hassle-free customer experience in a 
multi-service world

a Offering our customers a hassle-free experience 
means allowing them to customise their own journey and 
access our solutions and advice whenever they need through 
digital tools. This transformation is already well under way at 
Orange – in 2019, 54% of customer interactions in Europe 
were conducted using digital channels. 

In Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the “My Orange” 
app makes life easier for over 25 million customers who want 
a real time overview of their Orange accounts. This figure is 
expected to rise to 50 million by 2023. In 2019, Orange 
Poland launched Flex, a fully digital and customisable app 
that allows customers to sign up to a service and activate it 
immediately on an eSIM. By 2023 in Europe, 30% of Orange 
mobile or internet packages will be sold on a contract and 
80% of remote customer service interactions will take place 
through a digital channel. 

To meet this demand, Orange has expanded the use of 
chatbots to Belgium, Tunisia and Côte d’Ivoire. Conversations
handled by virtual assistants in France, Spain, Poland, 
Romania and Jordan increased fivefold, from 3 to 15 million, 

between 2018 and 2019. By 2023, chatbots will be able to 
handle 80% of customer conversations from start to finish. 

Offering customers a hassle-free experience also 

means providing them with services that are customised, 
omnichannel and seamless. On digital platforms as well as in 
store, artificial intelligence and big data have a major role to 
play to support our customers. Analysing the customer 
journey helps us better understand their expectations in order 
to provide a more tailored experience on their local Orange 
website. Using machine learning to analyse browsing data 
allows us to make their most used services more prominent 
for frequent visitors and promote our most popular packages 
and services to occasional visitors. 

Digital and caring expertise to support our 
customers

a An augmented customer experience provides better 
access to expert advisors, both virtual and human, across all 
services and points of contact. Our in-store or remote 
advisors will always be there to assist and support our 
customers with more complex issues, so whether or not they 
are comfortable using digital technology, they are able to 

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

87

0
9/1

customers recommend 
Orange in all its operating 
countries — 2025 target

Engage 2025: 
our ambition in numbers

2019 
2023 

2019 
2023 

2025

2025

2025
2025

An effective digital channel  

10% of revenues in Europe via 
30% digital channels

 55% of remote customer interactions 
  80% using digital tools in Europe 

50% reduction in customer calls in Europe between 

2019 and 2023

Proximity and expertise in human contact 

85% of customer issues resolved during the first 

contact  

100% of Orange stores transformed into Smart Stores 
in Europe and accessible to all in under 
30 minutes

A responsible customer experience 
30% of unwanted mobile devices collected
100% of Orange branded devices using an  

eco-designed approach

receive expert advice in an Orange store close to where  
they live.

This customer experience culture now extends to every 

level of the company through training schemes such as 
Orange in Touch or the Customer Journeys Onboarding 
programme. The “Future-facing Advisor” programme goes 
even further as the increasingly digital customer relationship 
is transforming the role of customer advisors in stores and in 
call centres. We organised pilot workshops in France and 
Jordan to communicate about different customer 
engagement drivers and identify the core skills that are 
required to enhance customer relations today and into the 
future.

The impressive performance of our 1,320 Smart Stores 
also demonstrates the way in which customers have bought 
into the combined face-to-face and digital relationship to 
achieve unmatched service quality. Beyond the revenue they 
generate, Smart Stores are highly rated by visitors, with an 
average satisfaction score of 8.5/10. The stores regularly 
enrich their offer with useful and technological innovations, 
such as geolocation, visibility of stocks and an in-store 
pick-up service, led by our Digital Retail programme. Orange 
is gradually upgrading all stores into Smart Stores.

A responsible customer experience

a In addition to our own environmental commitments, 

we encourage our customers to do their bit to combat the 
climate breakdown by helping them to minimise their digital 
footprint. That’s why we apply an eco-design approach to 
developing products such as the Livebox 5, which has a 
carbon footprint that is a third lower than with the Livebox 4. 
We also promote responsible digital behaviour and uses and, 
in France and Spain, we offer a range of reconditioned 
devices. 

Furthermore, we encourage customers to bring their old 

mobile phones back to our Orange stores so we can recycle 
the handsets. We’re aiming to reach a handset recycling rate 
of 30% by 2025. 

At the same time, Orange customers can also take part 

in initiatives to improve digital inclusion. For example, 
customers in Spain, Slovakia, Poland and Romania donated 
their unused data, meaning we were able to offer equipment 
and internet access to 20 schools and over 
1,100 disadvantaged families with children in education in 
2019. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
88

Orange

Working for smarter 
networks and greater 
operational efficiency 

Orange places great importance on network quality. We use AI and data to identify the best 
locations to deploy new mobile sites. Automating certain network features will considerably 
improve maintenance and therefore enhance service quality while also reducing costs. At the 
same time, digital transformation and AI will increase the operational efficiency of our internal 
processes. 

Optimising broadband and mobile network 
deployments

a Statistical models that use big data and artificial 
intelligence help to determine the most favourable locations to 
deploy a network of sites and identify where resources should 
be allocated as a priority. In Spain, we use machine learning to 
optimise our investments and mobile network deployment 
plans by correlating dozens of variables, such as the number 
of users, average revenue per subscriber or the level of 
investment. Our Smart Capex tool forecasts the demand for 
mobile connectivity and its impact on network quality, as well 
as determines the value generated by the various deployment 
scenarios and identifies the towers that will offer the highest 
return on investment. We are keen to gradually roll out the use 
of machine learning to all our operating countries in Europe. 
Such statistical influence also extends to our broadband 
network. For example, in Poland, we have developed a big 
data tool to optimise our investments in fibre installations. By 
simulating various deployment scenarios and taking into 

account a number of different parameters, such as geographic 
constraints and the presence of competitors, the solution 
supports our decision-making process for maximising 
coverage while minimising costs.

Automating network management and 
maintenance

a Artificial intelligence and data are becoming 
increasingly essential to manage our networks each day. For 
example, these tools enable our technical teams to identify 
congestion and degradation in the mobile network, so as to 
automatically adjust throughput and energy consumption 
according to usage. 

In France, Orange works with online tools that use AI 

and data to diagnose and detect incidents, which has 
significantly reduced the number of interventions for  
high-speed internet customers and resolve problems faster, 
generating savings of €20 million per year.

2019 Integrated Annual Report

89

€350

million

total assets under management of 
Orange Ventures, corporate venture 
fund of Orange

Strengthening the Orange 
Ventures investment fund

To continue to support the culture of open innovation and the ambition of creating 
an innovative digital world, Orange is transforming its Venture Capital activities. 
Orange Digital Ventures has become Orange Ventures and been provided with an 
increased financial commitment from the Group, taking its total assets under 
management to €350 million. With €50 million ringfenced for investments in Africa 
and the Middle East, and €30 million for investments in new sustainable and 
responsible business models that are in line with the Group’s societal 
commitments. Synergies between start-ups within the Orange Ventures portfolio 
and the Group will be strengthened via structured processes to increase its 
anticipation, growth and operational efficiency. Four years after it was launched, 
Orange Ventures currently has a portfolio of 21 start-ups, including the UK-based 
fintech unicorn Monzo, the leading provider of cloud interconnection services 
InterCloud, and the Pan African EdTech and online Marketplace for developers 
Gebeya. Our aim is to grow Orange Ventures into one of the top ten European 
Corporate Venture Capital operations to stay at the cutting edge of technology.

Combating fraud and tightening security

a Fraudsters have developed many highly sophisticated 

techniques to traffic voice data internationally. To counteract 
such malicious acts, Orange experts design innovative tools 
that harness AI to detect fraud with a high degree of precision 
and adapt to the ever-evolving processes and methods of 
fraudsters. Fraud was detected manually in the past but a 
ground-breaking machine learning system Orionis has now 
been put in place by the Wholesale & International Networks 
division (W&IN) with support from Orange Labs to analyse call 
reports. Automatic processing of this kind considerably 
reduces search times, improving the level of satisfaction 
among our wholsesale customers and enabling the Group to 
make revenue savings of nearly €40 million each year. 

Expanding operations, back office and 
support departments

a The W&IN division has designed a single data 

platform used by all teams. The data pool, developed with 
Orange Cloud for Business and Business & Decision, 
conducts in-depth analysis of our performance and customer 
base and offers the additional advantage of advanced 
business intelligence.

Furthermore, AI algorithms form the core of chatbot 

technology, which can automatically process a certain 
number of internal procedures. In the same way, robotic 
process automation (RPA) can be applied to a number of 
administrative tasks such as invoicing, purchasing, 
processing deliveries and handling customer emails. To 
accelerate the deployment of RPA to our various Group 
entities and subsidiaries, Orange launched the RPA Academy 
in 2019 in Spain and Poland, two RPA pilot countries with 
350 operational chatbots. For example in Spain, over 
140 employees are RPA certified. Participants from 
13 countries attended workshops to acquire core skills in 
automation and better identify the ways in which different 
professions can take advantage of this technology. 

 
90

Orange

Ambition 4

Co-creating 
a future-
facing 
company

2019 Integrated Annual Report

91

In 2025, the company’s profile will be 
considerably different from what it is today. 
It will be more international, more  
BtoB-oriented, more experienced yet still 
multi-generational and at the forefront of 
cutting-edge technologies. To successfully 
bring about this change, the Group will rely on 
its most important asset – the expertise and 
engagement of the men and women who 
make Orange what it is. Building a 
future-facing company means working with 
employees to develop core skills, confirming 
our position among the world’s attractive 
employers and remaining responsible by 
supporting employees every step of the way.

92

Orange

Addressing the 
skills challenge

Orange is keen to prepare its employees for future technological and market shifts by 
developing their skills. That’s why we’ve set up innovative learning systems that combine the 
best in digital and human services in cooperation with our vocational training schools and 
select third-party partners.

a Today, Orange is upholding its responsibility and 

leading the field in upskilling its workforce for the digital 
economy. To enable the Group to remain at the forefront of 
emerging technology trends for years to come and harness 
new skills to form the foundation of our business, we are 
helping employees acquire the expertise they need to face the 
changes that lie ahead in our industry.

We also believe that in order for Orange to succeed its 
corporate transformation, employees must be able to share 
knowledge with one another and incorporate new ways of 
learning. Their ability to combine technical and soft skills is 
integral to our future success.  

Enhancing employability for everyone  

a  Orange will expand its business primarily by growing 

AI, data, cybersecurity, IT development, cloud services and 
Network Function Virtualisation. Between now and 2025, the 
Group will invest more than €1.5 billion in an ambitious skills 
development programme to strengthen, adapt and refresh 
employee expertise. Our long-term goal is to double the 
number of specialists we have working in these areas to 
over 20,000 and harness these technologies and skills in our 
future operations, particularly in our marketing and network 
management teams. In addition to developing highly skilled 
specialists, all Orange employees will receive training in these 

new skill sets. In 2019, training initiatives in France focused on 
boosting interpersonal skills among customer services teams, 
transforming existing stores into Smart Stores and upskilling 
employees in networks of the future and IT. Orange Business 
Services has structured its BtoB training around 
understanding customer needs, digital trust, technological 
leadership and business agility. In the Middle East and Africa, 
training has focused on cybersecurity, big data and new 
financial services. 

We also encourage all our employees to gain digital 

know-how by providing them with online resources such as 
our massive online open courses (MOOCs) on big data and 
blockchain. The blockchain MOOC has since been transferred 
to the online learning platform Moodle and is therefore 
accessible free of charge to anyone interested in 
understanding how new technologies are being leveraged in 
the business world.  

Transforming Orange Campus

a The skills challenge is very real, and in order to 
address it, the Group is updating employee training through its 
Orange Campus network of schools, which is now accessible 
not only to all Orange employees but also to new audiences 
outside the company. Focused on four priority areas of 
expertise – data/AI, cybersecurity, management and soft 

€1.5 

billion 

invested in enhancing the skills 
of all employees worldwide 
by 2025 

93 

Committed to 
gender equality in 
the workplace 

Our focus on gender equality in the workplace is built around four priorities: access for 
women to managerial positions; gender balance in all professional roles, namely 
technical roles; equal pay; and work-life balance. To improve gender balance in 
technical and digital professions, Orange is investing in retraining. Already a member of 
the French Femmes@Numérique Foundation to promote gender diversity in the digital 
economy, the Group joined other companies in May 2019 in signing a manifesto to 
encourage women to change careers into digital professions in France. In addition, in 
July 2019, Orange signed a ground-breaking global agreement on gender equality in 
the workplace with UNI Global Union. The agreement seeks to improve gender 
equality, support a positive work-life balance and combat discrimination and violence. 
Orange was the frst CAC 40 company to do so and the frst in the telecommunications 
sector globally. But more importantly, it represents another step in the Group’s 
commitment to social responsibility. 

skills – Orange Campus provides a modern learning 
experience by drawing on its business experts, digital 
platforms, key partners and specifc training locations 
throughout France, Europe and Africa. Training courses will 
become increasingly tailored, combining short information-
based courses with more in-depth longer format training 
programmes to upskill or even retrain participants, earning 
them certifcates and diplomas. The training experience will 
also incorporate newer, more immersive approaches and 
digital formats and promote innovative methods such as 
virtual reality, mobile learning and hacking rooms. 

A collaborative HR innovation Lab 

a The HR Innovation Lab, launched by Orange 
Business Services in April 2019, champions research and 
experimental initiatives. It brings together a wide range of 
stakeholders in the HR ecosystem – large corporations and 
small companies, freelancers, start-ups and employees – to 
understand how technological innovation can transform 
human resources, including its systems, skills, ways of 
working, organisation, employee experience and business 
culture. HR webinars, round tables and “learning expeditions” 
bring together academics, sociologists, experts and 
researchers from Orange Labs, with a view to publishing the 
conclusions of their discussions and research. Through the HR 

Innovation Lab, Orange Business Services is focusing on 
collaboration as a key to anticipate and shape future-facing 
companies. 

Stimulating social innovation by promoting 
equal opportunity and diversity 

a Our diversity policy gives priority to equal 

opportunity, namely for young people from underprivileged 
backgrounds in our work-study training and workforce 
integration initiatives. In 2018, Orange joined forces with 
Microsoft and Simplon to create the Microsoft AI School, 
which helps people successfully change careers or fnd a 
job after long-term unemployment by offering training in 
skills required for the digital economy. The frst Orange 
intake graduated from the school in 2019. 

With 7% of Orange France employees registered as 
disabled, Orange is looking to extend its inclusion promise 
which encapsulates recruitment, retention, workplace 
accessibility and career development. In 2019, Orange 
reiterated this promise when it joined a number of major 
French companies in signing a manifesto for the integration 
of disabled people in the workforce. It likewise became a 
member of the global initiative The Valuable 500, which 
brings together 500 major corporations that have 
undertaken to employ people with disabilities. 

2019 Integrated Annual Report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
94

Orange

Ranking among 
the world’s most attractive 
employers

Upskilling our employees is one way of responding to technological and market shifts; 
however, we must also be able to attract and retain top talent outside the company. Orange is 
leveraging its strong employer brand and internal career development programmes to stand 
out from the competition.

Navigating emerging challenges in 
recruitment  

a Between now and 2025, the Orange workforce will 

need to hire more experts in AI, data, cybersecurity, cloud 
services and Network Function Virtualisation. We want to 
establish a true competitive advantage rooted in distinctive 
expertise, which is why we identify, recruit and retain the best 
talent on the market. To improve recruitment practices, we’re 
harnessing technology and open innovation with the leading 
start-ups in the field to select candidates, assess skills and 
prepare jobs offers. We also organise Orange gaming events 
to attract people with core skills.

In 2020, Orange will launch its own apprentice training 

centre to underpin growth and share expertise in the digital 
economy. The Group already takes on around 5,000 work-
study students each year in France, 3,500 of whom were 
working as apprentices in the company in late December 
2019. In addition to the talent pool it attracts, the apprentice 
training centre offers courses that meet genuine industry 
needs so as to boost the employability of young people and 

accelerate their integration into the workforce. With support 
from Orange Campus, the apprentice training centre will offer 
prospective apprentices the opportunity to become customer 
service technicians, cloud engineers, cybersecurity engineers 
or data analysts starting in September 2020. It will be open to 
young people in initial training as well as anyone looking to 
change careers. At the same time, we are strengthening our 
partnerships with schools to attract candidates. Specifically, 
we’re outlining career paths that meet the Group’s needs, 
such as the master’s in Data Science launched at the Institut 
national polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Côte 
d’Ivoire. The course trains students to become experts in 
statistics, AI and big data.

Making the employer brand more 
appealing

a Orange is keen to leverage its employer brand and 

showcase the opportunities the Group has to offer, from 
internships to certified training programmes. In 2019, the 
Group was awarded Top Employer Global certification for the 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

95

fourth year running and remains the only telecoms operator in 
the Top 14. In the LinkedIn Top Companies 2019 list, which 
ranks the most attractive employers in France, Orange broke 
into the Top 10.

In addition, 19 Group entities in 17 different countries 

received the Gender Equality European & International 
Standard (GEEIS) label for diversity and gender equality in the 
workplace.

We are increasing our visibility on social media to better 

reach our target audiences. Today, over 80,000 Orange 
employees have a LinkedIn profile and represent potential 
advocates of the life at Orange that prospective employees can 
expect. We understand the importance of the candidate 
experience, which is why we continually update Orange Jobs, 
where candidates can browse vacancies on a simple, 
easy-to-use recruitment platform. After being completely 
overhauled in 2019, Orange Jobs now features innovative 
technology that includes skills matching and a chatbot service. 
Based on feedback from candidates, Orange was awarded the 
Happy Candidates label in recognition of its overall recruitment 
experience. For several years running, Orange has ranked 
among the Top 3 companies in terms of candidate experience. 

Lastly, we maintain long-standing partnerships with 
schools and educational institutions that feed into the Group’s 
business lines. Our Campus Managers manage our network of 
professional or academic institutions in France, which help fulfil 
our wide variety of recruitment needs. They also act as 
ambassadors to students by organising recruitment events.

Further empowering employees through 
internal career paths

a Being an attractive employer isn’t just important for 
bringing in new talent. It also reflects a company’s ability to 
retain and grow its existing talent. Orange is a learning 
organisation that provides career development opportunities 
and the possibility to change careers or business lines. We 
capitalise on the diversity of our businesses in France and 
abroad in order to offer fulfilling career paths, in particular in 
high growth fields such as data and cybersecurity. Our 
employees enjoy tailored support from our dedicated teams, 
and they are likewise equipped with easy-to-use tools such as 
the “Mon Itinéraire” system to map out potential career paths 
based on their current job. 

96

Orange

Supporting employees 
every step of the way

We take our role as an employer very seriously and work hard to ensure any transformation is 
both sustainable and responsible. We therefore design initiatives that improve our employees’ 
experience and stimulate internal innovation. At the same time, we maintain an open 
approach to social dialogue throughout the workplace as well as our efforts to continuously 
improve quality of life at work.

Employee experience as a Group priority

Improving quality of life at work 

a In order to live up to our employer promise, we are 
investing heavily in digital tools. A key example is Plazza, our 
internal social network with 78,000 members in nearly 
100 countries, which today represents the largest corporate 
social network in Europe. In 2019, we also developed Manao, 
our community app that connects employees across the Group. 
Lastly, we are building a company chatbot called MyBot. Based 
on the customer service chatbots we use in our operations, it 
will use AI technology to help employees access our corporate 
services more easily.

Stimulating innovation 

a Our innovation programme Oz, implemented in 
17 countries, inspires employees to develop their initiative and 
collaborate. They are encouraged to solve problems by 
applying a continuous improvement mindset and share their 
solutions on an ideas wall. The leaders of projects selected for 
development are invited to join Orange’s intrapreneurial 
incubator. Similarly, Orange organises community challenges 
as a way to get teams to work together and come up with 
innovative and practical ideas. In 2019, 7,500 employees in 
France took part in an environment challenge.

a As a crucial factor for employee engagement and 
employer appeal, quality of life at work is vital to helping us 
become more competitive. We have developed a collaborative 
and sustained approach to improving quality of life at work 
focused on five key areas: individual well-being, work, 
management, working conditions, occupational health and 
risk prevention. Our efforts are reflected in the key agreements 
we have renewed with employee representatives on gender 
equality, remote working and assessing and preventing health 
risks in the workplace. 

Internationally, Orange entities are developing numerous 
initiatives to facilitate internal collaboration. Orange Spain has 
launched seven Agile tribes and the “Agilidad para todos” 
programme. Both are designed to extend agile ways of 
working across the entire organisation to enable agile 
responses to complex and changing situations. In Poland, 
Wtopy (Blunder) meetings encourage employees to talk about 
learning from mistakes. Nearly 2,000 employees have taken 
part in this initiative, helping to spread a culture of dialogue. 

Open social dialogue in France and 
around the world

a Social dialogue is part of who we are at Orange. It is an 
essential component of every transformation the company has 

2019 Integrated Annual Report

97

Using internal social networks to drive 
transformation

plazza

Launch date
Number of users (at end-March 2020) Over 78,000
Keywords

2010

collaboration, performance
sharing 

2019
Over 18,000
group, skills, 
belonging 

undertaken and something the Group continues to consider 
integral to its operations and performance. Our cohesion and 
collective success rely on strong labour relations. Key 
agreements negotiated across several of our operating regions 
demonstrate its strategic importance. For example, in France, a 
wage agreement for 2019 was unanimously signed by Orange 
SA and the representatives from five trade unions. We also 
defined the new structure of our employee representative 

bodies, adapting the framework of the 2017 reforms to our 
internal operations. Internationally, we signed a Group-wide 
agreement on gender equality in the workplace with UNI Global 
Union. Our social dialogue approach also relies on listening to 
employees. Every year, our Employee Barometer calls on all 
employees to give us feedback about their experience. Data 
collected in the most recent survey showed that 88% of 
employees say they are proud to be a part of the Group. 

98

Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report

99

Performance

In 2019, we achieved solid financial and non-financial performance. 
We also extended our studies on the economic and social value we 
create in our operating countries. These strong results were made 
possible in part by our risk management strategy, but they were 
primarily the fruit of the Essentials2020 strategy and the high level of 
engagement among our employees.

100

Orange

2019 
financial results

In 2019, Orange continued to grow revenues and EBITDAaL, with an acceleration in
the fourth quarter. These strong results can be attributed to the Group’s strategy, which 
focuses on enhanced connectivity and new growth areas.

Rising revenue

Net income

a Orange Group revenues reached €42.2 billion in 

a Net income totalled €3,226 million compared with 

2019, representing a 0.6%* rise on 2018. This performance 
was driven by the very strong momentum the Group continues 
to enjoy in Africa & Middle East (up 6.2%), solid results in 
Europe (up 1.4%) and the return to growth in BtoB (up 1%). 
This success more than compensated for the very slight 0.3% 
decline in revenues in France and the 1.5% drop in Spain in 
2019 due to the shift towards low cost providers in this 
market. Our leadership position in networks allowed us to 
maintain excellent commercial performance. Convergence 
packages totalled 10.8 million customers at 31 December 
2019, up 3.4% year on year, enabling Orange to consolidate 
its position as Europe’s leading convergent operator. Orange 
is also the undisputed leader in fibre in Europe with 7.3 million 
fibre customers, and 207 million mobile customers worldwide.

EBITDAaL and eCAPEX**

a EBITDAaL, which represents Orange’s operational 

profitability, rose 0.8% in 2019, reaching €12.9 billion. 
EBITDAaL from telecom activities accounted for 30.8% of 
revenues in 2019, up 0.1 percentage points. The Group’s 
capital expenditure (eCAPEX) of €7.3 billion was up 0.6% on 
2018, even when taking into account mobile access network 
sharing with Vodafone in Spain. Excluding this, eCAPEX 
decreased slightly against a backdrop of accelerating fibre 
deployment in France.

€2,158 million in 2018. The increase came from growth in 
operating income and financial income (due in particular to the 
decreasing cost of gross financial debt), partially offset by the 
increase in the corporate tax charge.

Organic Cash Flow 

a  In 2019, Organic Cash Flow for Group telecom 
activities reached €2.3 billion, in line with guidance. This 
represents a decrease of €145 million on a historical basis 
compared with 2018, which includes an increase in the 
amount of corporation tax paid. 

Dividend 

a  Due to the exceptional crisis caused by the outbreak 

of Covid-19, the Orange Board of Directors recommends 
paying a dividend of €0.50 per share in respect of 2019.  

*     Unless otherwise stated, changes are on a comparable basis.
**     Definitions for EBITDAaL and eCAPEX can be found in the Universal  

Registration Document, available on www.orange.com.

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

101

Key figures 
Data at 31 December

In millions of euros

Revenues
       France
       Spain
       Europe
       Africa & Middle East
       Enterprise
       International Carriers & Shared Services
       Intra-Group eliminations

EBITDAaL
o/w telecom activities
       As % of revenues
       France
       Spain
       Europe
       Africa & Middle East
       Enterprise
       International Carriers & Shared Services
o/w Orange Bank

Operating Income
o/w telecom activities
o/w Orange Bank

Consolidated net income
Net income attributable to equity owners of the Group

eCAPEX
o/w telecom activities
       as % of revenues
o/w Orange Bank

12M 2019

12M 2018
comparable
basis

12M 2018
historical
basis

change 
comparable 
basis

change
historical
basis

42,238
18,154
5,280
5,783
5,646
7,820
1,498
(1,942)

12,860
13,019
30.8%
7,135
1,646
1,492
1,815
1,191
(261)
(160)

5,927
6,112
(186)

3,226
3,006

7,293
7,265
17.2%
28

41,986
18,204
5,360
5,701
5,314
7,745
1,584
(1,922)

12,762
12,907
30.7%
7,130
1,642
1,443
1,659
1,212
(178)
(147)

7,248
7,212
17.2%
36

41,381
18,211
5,349
5,687
5,190
7,292
1,534
(1,882)

na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na

4,829
4,997
(169)

2,158
1,954

na
na
na
na

na

0.6%
(0.3)%
(1.5)%
1.4%
6.2%
1.0%
(5.4)%

0.8%
0.9%
0.1 pts
0.1%
0.3%
3.4%
9.4%
(1.7)%
(46.3)%
(8.5)%

0.6%
0.7%
0.0 pt
(23.4)%

1.0%

2.1%
(0.3)%
(1.3)%
1.7%
8.8%
7.2%
(2.3)%

na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na
na

22.7%
22.3%
(9.8)%

49.4%
53.8%

na
na
na
na

na

31 
December
2019

31 
December
2018

2,345
25,466
1.96

2,490
25,441
na

Operating cash-flow (EBITDAaL - eCAPEX)

5,568

5,513 :

Organic Cash Flow from telecoms activities
Net financial debt*
Ratio of financial debt / EBITDAaL from telecom activities**

na: non applicable.
*       Net financial debt as defined and used by Orange does not take into account the activities of Orange Bank, for which this concept is not relevant.
**      The ratio of net financial debt to EBITDAaL from telecom activities is calculated on the basis of the Group’s net financial debt to EBITDAaL from telecom activities 

calculated over the previous 12 months.

102 

Consolidated revenues 

France 

Spain 

Europe (excl. France and Spain) 

Africa and the Middle East 

Entreprise 

International Carriers & Shared Services

41.4% 

12.4% 

13.5% 

12.9% 

17.6% 

 2.3% 

Orange share: 
total shareholder return* 

110.00 

105.00 

100.00 

95.00 

90.00 

85.00 

80 

Jan 2019  Feb 2019  Mar 2019  Apr 2019  May 2019  Jun 2019  July 2019  Aug 2019  Sept 2019  Oct 2019  Nov 2019  Dec 2019  Jan 2020  Feb 2020 

Share price at 31/12/2019: €13.12 

Orange 
Stoxx Europe 600 Telecom index 

*Base 100: 1 January 2019 (dividends reinvested) 

Orange 
 
 
 
 
 
 
             
             
 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

103

2019 non-financial 
results

To guarantee strong performance over the long-term, we monitor a number of 
non-financial criteria. We take into account the impact of our operations on employees, 
society and the environment while ensuring the protection of human rights.

Human rights  

a In 2019, the Group renewed its support for the United 

Nations Global Compact, a voluntary initiative encouraging 
companies, charities and non-governmental organisations to 
pledge to uphold 10 universal principles in the areas of human 
rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Orange also 
sits on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Initiative 
(GNI), an alliance of internet and telecommunications 
companies that protects freedom of expression and privacy 
against government demands. When the GNI audited Orange 
in 2019, it concluded, “Orange is genuinely committed to 
implementing the GNI principles through a process of 
continuous improvement.”

Data protection

a To protect privacy in line with the European Union’s 
2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Group 
conducted 30 data security reviews within five entities in 
Europe and Africa in 2019. In addition, data protection 
delegates have been appointed in all of our subsidiaries in 
Europe as well as in Orange Business Services. Our Security 
teams raise awareness of risks among employees and spread 
best practice through data protection training. Our entities have 
also developed follow-up training to these courses through 
e-learning modules and face-to-face classes, some of which 
have attracted participation rates of over 80% of employees.

Employees

a At 31 December 2019, Orange employed 

146,768 people, of which 143,526 on unlimited contracts and 
3,242 on temporary contracts. The Group also supported 
6,150 young people to enter the job market in France at 
end-2019; including 3,510 work-study students and 

2,640 interns. Gender equality in the workplace is also a core 
focus for the Group. We aim to increase the number of women 
in our management networks to 35% in 2020 against 31.1% in 
2019. Women currently make up 33.3% of our Executive 
Committee. 

Digital equality

a Today, digital technology is considered an essential 

utility. To meet this need, Orange is working to provide network 
access to as many people as possible by deploying 
responsible and inclusive digital services, while also supporting 
entrepreneurship and open innovation. That’s why the Group 
opened the first two Orange Digital Centers in Tunisia and 
Senegal, launched two discounted inclusion packages for 
low-income households in France and Spain, and created 
special offers to promote the digital inclusion of seniors and 
people with disabilities. Since 2014, the Orange Foundation’s 
Digital Schools programme has donated tablets to 820 schools 
in 16 of the Group’s operating countries. Over 200,000 children 
are now able to access essential educational content.

The environment 

a In 2019, for the third year in a row, the Group 
exceeded its target to halve CO2 emissions per customer 
usage compared with 2006 levels, achieving a reduction of 
64.2%. This Group record was achieved through energy 
efficiency improvements, in particular in our network, IT 
systems and technical infrastructure, which together represent 
82% of CO2 emissions. Tertiary buildings and business travel 
account for 11.7% and 6.7% of emissions, respectively. At the 
same time, Orange has stepped up its efforts to collect and 
recycle unwanted mobile devices. In the fourth quarter of 2019, 
we reached an all-time high, collecting 30% of mobile devices 
sold over the same period in France. 

104

Orange

Employee distribution

Employees by business line

Management* 
Customers  
Support departments 
Innovation and technology** 
Others 

Employees by geographical area

France 
Spain 
Poland 
Other European countries 
Africa 
Asia-Pacific 
Americas 

2019 

19.6% 
33.0% 
12.1% 
32.3% 
3.0% 

2019 

59.4% 
4.0% 
8.5% 
15.5% 
9.7% 
1.3% 
1.6% 

2018 

19.5%
32.8%
12.6%
32.3%
2.8%

2018 

61.0% 
3.8% 
9.0% 
8.3% 
11.6% 
3.9% 
2.4% 

2017

62.1%
3.6%
9.9%
7.3%
11.2%
3.7%
2.2%

Gender equality in the workplace

% of women in the active workforce  
% of women in managerial positions 
% of women in management networks 

2019 

36.0% 
30.9% 
31.1% 

2018  

36.1% 
30.6% 
29.8% 

2017 

36.1%
29.9%
28.5%

*    Managers, project managers and process managers. 
**   Including employees required to deploy and operate networks.

  
  
  
 
 
 
  
2019 Integrated Annual Report

105

Environmental performance

Environmental performance 
(energy)

Facilities presenting a risk
Fuel tank units 

Energy consumption – Scope 1
Fuel oil (all buildings and all uses)  
Gas 
Coal 
Fuel  
– Gasoline-LPG for company cars  
– Diesel for company vehicles  
Total energy Scope 1  

2

Scope 1 CO  emissions (energy only)  
– CO  emissions from fuel oil, gas and coal 
– CO  emissions from vehicles 
– CO  emissions from greenhouse gases (refrigerants) 

2

2

2

Scope 1 CO  emissions 
2

CO  not emitted due to carbon mitigation** 

2

tonnes CO   
2

tonnes CO e  

2

Energy consumption – Scope 2
Electricity  
of which from renewable sources 
–  Electricity supply from renewable sources 
   with guarantee of origin 
– Electricity supply from renewable sources
   through ESCo contracts, solar farms or
   Group solar generation  
– Electricity supply from renewable sources
   through PPAs 

GWh  
GWh  

GWh  

GWh  

GWh  

Units  

2019 

2018 

2017

France* 

Rest of 
the world

Group  
Values 

Group 
Values 

units 

1,369  

2,668  

4,037  

4,255  

m³  
m³  
tonnes  
litres  
litres  
litres  
GWh  
tonnes CO   2
tonnes CO   2
tonnes CO   2
 tonnes CO  e 

2

12,825  
11,763,009  
na 
21,180,725  
4,181,827  
16,998,898  
480  

121,615  
66,276  
55,339  
-  

121,615  

47,684  
3,169,515  
 51  
12,244,899  
4,038,301  
8,206,598  
705 

60,509  
14,932,524  
51  
33,425,624  
8,220,128 
25,205,496  
aa1,184  
289,437  
202,766  
86,671  
6,198  
174,021   aa295,636  
(2,405)  
(2,405)  

167,823  
136,490  
31,333  
6,198  

66,931  
19,995,141  
56  
36,040,004  
 5,997,432  
30,042,572  
1,340  

316,212  
219,321  
96,891  
17,478  

333,690  

(2,229)  

Group
Values

4,228

72,163
17,884,871
71
35,253,976
3,408,576
31,845,400
1,373

325,036
229,349
95,687
6,723

331,759

(2,154)

2,246  
-  

2,138   aa4,384  
542  

542  

4,357  
526  

4,299
493

-  

-  

482  

482

61  

-  

61

-  

-

Scope 2 CO  emissions 
2
Total energy consumption 
(Scopes 1 & 2) 

Total CO  emissions (Scope 1 + Scope 2) 

2

Energy consumption – Scope 3
Distance travelled by plane 
Distance travelled by train 

Scope 3 CO  emissions  
2

Total CO  emissions (Scope 1 + 2 + 3) 

2

tonnes CO   2

117,473  

889,572 

 aa1,007,045  

1,043,144  

1,001,900

GWh  
tonnes CO   2

2,726  

2,843  

5,569  

5,698  

5,889

239,088  

1,063,593  

1,302,681  

1,376,834  

1,333,659

km  
km  
tonnes CO   2
tonnes CO   2

174,437,635  
95,204,758  

41,693  

280,781  

77,551,265  
10,285,343  

251,988,900  
105,490,101  
18,418   aa60,111  
1,082,010   aa1,362,791  

246,564,097  
91,033,830  

250,765,793
94,097,363

46,170  

47,041

1,423,004  

1,380,700

na: non applicable.
As the values have been rounded to the nearest million, Group data may not represent the sum exact of the data published for France and the Rest of the World.
*         Data for France includes Orange France, head office, Orange Marine and entities of Orange Business Services operating in France.
**        In accordance with the 2019 guidelines issued by the Net Zero Initiative in which Orange takes part, the emissions avoided by projects outside the Group are not 

removed from the Group’s Scope 1 emissions. The Scope 1 CO2 emissions for 2017 and 2018 have been revised accordingly.

aa Data reviewed by KPMG: reasonable assurance.

 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
106

Orange

Performance 
in 2019

France

Europe

a In 2019, revenues in France totalled €18.2 billion, 

a Orange’s seven other operating countries in Europe 

accounting for 41.4% of the Group’s consolidated revenues, 
and down 0.3%* on 2018. Stripping out the impact of online 
press services, revenues increased 0.2% year on year, with a 
significant uptick in the fourth quarter (up 1.1%). 

In 2019, Orange continued to step up deployments of 

fibre and very high-speed broadband on its directly owned and 
third-party infrastructure, in particular in urban areas and 
through its participation in Public Initiative Networks run by 
local authorities. We signed a further three agreements in 2019 
on Reunion Island, in Kourou in French Guiana and in the 
Auvergne region of France. Orange has also achieved a new 
record, making over 4.5 million additional homes connectable 
to FTTH (Fibre to the Home) in 2019 (compared with over  
2.7 million in 2018). With 3.3 million customers and 16.3 million 
fibre-ready homes in 2019, Orange has positioned itself as the 
undisputed leader in fibre services in France. Indeed, of all the 
country’s fibre optic cables deployments in 2019, 70% were 
carried out by the Group. 

We continued to deploy 4G in 2019, meaning our mobile 

network now covers 99% of the population in France (up 
0.4 percentage points on end-2018) – the most widespread 4G 
coverage in the country. Orange was ranked No. 1 for the ninth 
consecutive year by Arcep.

Convergence revenue rose by 3.9%, driven by the 
success of the Group’s strategy. At 31 December 2019, Orange 
had 5.8 million customers subscribing to more than one 
service, representing 55% of the Group’s retail customer base.
In October 2019, Orange launched the Livebox 5, 

designed to have a lower carbon footprint and faster 
throughputs to satisfy the growth in customer uses and the 
demand for family data-sharing plans. The Livebox 5 was 
already being used in 140,000 homes by end-2019. Orange 
also launched Connected Home (remote management of smart 
household appliances) and Protected Home (remote 
surveillance system), which proved highly successful among 
customers, with sales doubling in the fourth quarter. 

(excluding France) generated total revenues of over €11 billion 
in 2019. The Group now has nearly 51 million mobile 
customers and 7.5 million broadband customers across the 
region. Underpinning this strong performance are the ongoing 
roll-out of very high-speed mobile and fixed broadband and a 
convergence customer base that now stands at five million, 
4.4% higher than in 2018. This consolidates Orange’s position 
as the leading operator for convergence in Europe.

In Spain, revenues fell 1.5% due to greater levels of 

competition and a shift in the market towards low-cost 
providers. In 2019, we continued rolling out our FTTH network, 
with over 1.1 million additional homes now fibre-ready. New 
network sharing agreements with other operators and the 
improvement of existing agreements enable us to optimise our 
infrastructure and leverage one of the most high-performing, 
profitable networks on the market. At the same time, our 
multi-service strategy offers a competitive alternative to 
connectivity, encompassing our Orange Bank mobile banking 
service. Furthermore, we have signed content agreements 
with suppliers such as Amazon, Fox (Fox Now), AXN (AXN 
Now), Starz (StarzPlay), Rakuten, AMC and FlixOlé, offering 
one of the greatest levels of variety and choice available on the 
market, with content to delight the whole family.

For the sixth quarter in a row, revenues in Poland have 
increased, up 2.1% in 2019. In addition to the success of its 
convergence packages, growth in Poland was driven by 
increased equipment sales, expansion of other revenues 
(energy services) and better performance in IT and integration 
services. In 2019, we trialled 5G in nearly 10 cities, exceeding 
speeds of 1.5 Gb/s in Zakopane.

 In Central Europe, Orange Romania was the first 
subsidiary in the Group to roll out 5G networks in three cities. 
Furthermore, we inaugurated our first FTTH network at the end 
of 2019 and launched new payment methods in mobile financial 
services, including debit cards and Near Field Communication 
in March 2019 and Apple Pay in June 2019. In Slovakia, we 
concentrated on extending our coverage of FTTH high-speed 
broadband so that 522,000 homes were fibre-ready at 
end-2019, and we began rolling out the network in Moldova. 

 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

107

We achieved 3.3% growth in revenues in Belgium and 

Luxembourg, mainly through increased net sales of mobile and 
convergence packages. We also launched the Love Duo 
package in Belgium, which combines a mobile contract and 
unlimited very high-speed broadband. In late 2019, Orange 
Belgium became the first operator in the country to inaugurate 
a 5G testing hub for business.

Africa and the Middle East

a Africa and the Middle East represented Orange’s 

highest growth region in 2019, with revenues jumping 6.2% 
year on year and 6.1% in the fourth quarter. The total figure 
rose to €5.6 billion, accounting for 12.9% of the Group’s 
consolidated revenues. This performance was driven in 
particular by strong momentum in customer services (up 8.6%) 
and sustained growth in mobile. Seven countries clocked up 
double-digit growth in 2019.

Orange continues to deploy 4G and is investing in all 
countries to upgrade and extend its networks. In 2019, we 
picked up the pace of deployment, primarily in Egypt, Morocco 
and Côte d’Ivoire. The MEA region now has a total of 
23.8 million 4G customers, up 42.6% on the previous year. 
Standalone broadband also grew 10.3% in 2019, mainly due to 
high-speed services, which have now attracted 1.2 million 
customers (up 20.5%). Furthermore, the Group is rapidly 
expanding its presence on mobile financial service markets 
with Orange Money, which is enjoying considerable success 
with 45 million customers at 31 December 2019, including 
18.2 million active users (up 20.1%) who take advantage of the 
service monthly.
EBITDAaL for the MEA region increased 9.4%, outstripping 
the rate of growth in revenues, for a 32.2% margin, up 
0.9 percentage points year on year as a result of tighter cost 
control.

Enterprises 

a The Enterprises segment registered its fifth 

integration services were primarily responsible for this 
performance, expanding by 6.5% in 2019, compared with 
4.8% in 2018. This momentum reflects the strong performance 
of both cybersecurity and cloud services.

In 2019, Orange pursued its strategy to expand its 
cybersecurity business in order to increase its footprint around 
the world and its expertise in this area by completing two major 
acquisitions – SecureData and SecureLink.

The negative growth trend in broadband services (down 
1.7%) is starting to let up thanks to positive momentum in data, 
which rose 1.0% in 2019 and 1.6% in the fourth quarter. WAN 
(Wide Area Network) offers in France drove a significant 
proportion of this result, supported by the penetration of fibre 
with our Enterprise customers.

Strong performance in IT and integration services and 

the resilience of data in 2019 more than offset the drop in 
revenue from mobile (down 3.6%) and voice services (down 
6.8%). In 2019, Orange signed a number of major contracts to 
support its customers throughout the world, in particular with 
Mars Incorporated to build an Intelligent Automated Network 
(IAN), and with Sony to consolidate and transform the 
communications infrastructure of its two largest operating 
companies into a harmonised, future-proof network for an 
improved user experience around the world. Finally, eCAPEX 
rose 10.3% in 2019, as a result of several large-scale 
deployments for key customer accounts.

International Carriers & Shared Services

a International Carriers & Shared Services generated 

revenues of €1.5 billion in 2019, down 5.4% year on year, 
reflecting the slowdown in international carrier services. Other 
revenues rose 11% in 2019, which includes in particular laying 
and maintaining submarine cable, content services (OCS and 
Orange Studio), consulting (Sofrecom) and TV access control 
services (Viaccess). 

consecutive quarter of growth, reaching revenues of €7.8 billion 
(up 1% year on year) for the first time since 2016. IT and 

*  Unless otherwise indicated, all changes are presented on a  

comparable basis.

108

Orange

Social and economic impact

The impact of Group operations on the  
UN Sustainable Development Goals  

generated by our operations drive economic activity and 
employment nationally (purchases, wages and tax).

a Orange continuously considers its impact at Group 
level against a number of priority Sustainable Development 
Goals (SDGs). These efforts help the Group to understand and 
measure its contribution to the SDGs, determine which SDGs 
are most relevant to Group operations, measure the impact of 
its operations by 2030 and encourage adoption by its 
stakeholders.

Impact investing

a By identifying the SDGs on which we are able to 
have the most considerable influence, we are responding 
to the strong demand from socially responsible investment 
(SRI) funds and are able to consider our contribution 
through the multisectoral lens of the SDGs.

The socio-economic impact of our 
operations on regional communities

a In order to measure our contribution to driving growth 

in our operating countries, we conduct regular socio-
economic impact studies on the economic and social value 
we create. After France and Niger in 2017, then five more 
African countries in 2018, two European countries, Romania 
and Moldova, were the focus of impact studies in 2019. The 
studies look beyond the Group’s local presence alone, 
measuring the impact of its social and economic footprint on 
several levels.

The analysis framework 

Simple economic footprint (local expenditure)
The input-output method, based on the work of Wassily 
Leontief for which he won the Nobel Prize in Economics, is 
used to analyse the extent to which the monetary flows 

Extended economic footprint 
This wider measure builds on the above method, enabling us to 
assess the value generated by: 

 The use of our infrastructure, products and services, 
estimating the value created for businesses and retail 
customers, increasing productivity, accelerating 
regional development and contributing to national 
GDP growth. 
 Our CSR actions, or the value created by our 
corporate social responsibility programmes such as 
Orange Foundation initiatives for the education and 
protection of young girls, or projects with broader 
impacts such as device recycling and financial 
inclusion services offered by Orange Money. The 
method estimates the impact of these programmes in 
terms of improving society or the purchasing power of 
beneficiaries who consequently are able to access a 
new service more easily or avoid certain costs. 

Demonstrating social impact through Orange Digital 
Centers 
As part of the Engage 2025 strategic plan, Orange is aiming to 
enhance digital equality. To do this, the Group is working to 
ensure that everyone is able to benefit from support 
programmes tailored to their needs. The main focus of our 
strategic commitment lies in setting up an Orange Digital 
Center (ODC) in all of our operating countries and every 
operating division in France. This flagship initiative promotes 
skills acquisition and development as well as innovation and 
entrepreneurship. It strengthens the digital fabric of local 
communities by providing somewhere for young people and 
entrepreneurs to go for training and support. We conduct social 
impact analysis to measure the footprint of our responsible 
action and contribution, or in other words, the numbers of jobs 
created and start-ups supported as a direct result of our efforts.

 
     
     
2019 Integrated Annual Report

109

Orange’s local, extended and total footprint in five African 
countries and three European countries*

Local footprint

Extended footprint

Total footprint

Value 
added

Direct 
jobs

Value 
added

Induced
jobs

% of GDP

Cameroon
Côte d’Ivoire
Guinea
Democratic Republic of Congo 
Senegal**
Moldova***
Romania***
France****

€107m
€530m
€112m
€49m
€404m
€53m
€243m
€15,100m

601
1,965
350
580
1,805
1,189
3,594
91,733

×3.0
×2.1
×1.8 
×3.5
×2.3
×4.0
×10.0
×2.2

×80
×46
×180
×150
×40
×81
×24
×4

7.8%
11%
8%
1.5%
9,8%
2%
1.2%
1.4%

 Source: Goodwill-management
 Results updated in 2019 using 2018 data (% of GDP dropped from 11% using 2016 data to 9.8% using 2018 data).

* 
** 
***   2019 results using 2018 data.
****  Results updated by Utopies in 2019 using 2018 data for Orange SA.     

The results

Simple economic footprint 
In every region, the monetary flows generated by our 
operations significantly multiplied local value, with intensity 
varying among the countries studied from at least twofold to, 
as in the case of Romania, tenfold. The results expressed in 
terms of induced jobs were also significant and presented 
equally strong variations between countries (×180 in Guinea, 
×150 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and x46 in Côte 
d’Ivoire). The same trends were visible in Europe, though to a 
lesser extent (×81 in Moldova, ×24 in Romania and ×4 in 
France). These figures predominantly reflect wage differences 
between countries.

Total economic footprint  
The total footprint is the sum of the local, simple and 
extended footprints, expressed here as Orange’s contribution 

to GDP per country. This was considerable, boosting GDP by 
1.4% in France to 11% in Côte d’Ivoire. KPMG prepared a 
reasonable assurance report to verify the Group’s social value 
calculation and the results obtained for Senegal. Both the 
verification and a methodology note by consultancy firm 
Goodwill Management, which supported Orange with the 
analysis, are available on www.orange.com. 

The social footprint of Orange Digital Centers  
The Orange Digital Center in Dakar is a laboratory for digital 
experimentation that creates €12 million of value added and 
1,337 jobs per year. By the end of 2020, Orange is aiming to 
extend its international ODC network to 14 centres. If we 
extrapolate the Dakar results on this scale, around 20,000 jobs 
would be created, with an annual impact of 7,500 direct jobs 
created and nearly 10,000 indirect and induced jobs across 
the entire value chain for a total value added of over 
€150 million. 

 
 
110

Orange

Managing risks 
to support sustainable 
performance

Our Engage 2025 strategic plan and operations expose us to a number of risks* that can 
affect our stakeholders, prevent us from achieving our targets, invoke legal liability or 
undermine trust in our brand. Several years ago, we put in place a structure, procedures and 
control systems to detect risks and take targeted measures to prevent and mitigate them.

a Our internal control and risk management systems 

address the various operational, legal, financial and non-
financial risks we face (see the table on the following page). 
They are based on an organisation and procedures that have 
been put in place by Senior Management, the Executive 
Committee and employees. The goal is to provide reasonable 
assurance that we will meet our operating targets, comply with 
current laws and regulations and disclose reliable financial and 
non-financial information. 

Group-wide involvement 

a  Within this integrated approach to audit and control 
risks certified by the ISO 9001 quality management standard, 
the Risk division within the Group Audit, Control and Risk 
Management Department sets out the Group’s risk 
management strategy and implements it by:

   Anticipating risks relating to Engage 2025 and 
identifying emerging risks
   Leading the risk mapping and assessment process 
on behalf of the Executive Committee’s Risk 
Committee
   Supporting subsidiaries and entities when they 
prepare their own risk maps and following up their 
action plans 

risks), and the network of risk managers and internal control 
officers in the subsidiaries and entities. 

At least once a year, each department identifies and 

maps the risks faced by its stakeholders within its scope and 
prepares additional action plans to mitigate those risks more 
effectively. Progress on these plans, significant events and 
updates to the risk map are discussed during internal control 
reviews in each department. 

At the same time, subsidiaries and entities roll out and 

continuously improve their risk management system by:

Training executives in risk management
  Aligning audit plans with the principal risks identified
  Adapting and applying policies and practices 
defined and identified by the Group
   Setting up self-assessment processes

The Risk Committee also examines the Group’s risk 
management system once a year. The Audit Committee, which 
is tasked by the Board of Directors to ensure the effectiveness 
of internal control and risk management systems (including 
those relating to financial security laws), also oversees the 
review of the Group’s exposure to social and environmental 
risks, in accordance with the Afep-Medef Code.  

It does this in conjunction with the relevant departments (in 
particular the Group CSR Department regarding non-financial 

*    For more information about risks, see the Duty of care plan and Section 2.1 (Risk 

factors) of the 2019 Universal Registration Document.  

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
2019 Integrated Annual Report

111

Board of Directors

Audit Committee
Monitors the effectiveness of internal control and  risk management systems

Executive Committee

Risk Committee
Reviews the top-line risk management report 
Approves all decisions regarding risk management and the quality of internal control

Chaired by the Delegate Chief Executive Officer
CEO Finance, Performance and Europe

Group Audit, Control and Risk Management  
Department (DACRG)

Internal  
audit

Internal  
control

Risk 
Management

Fraud & Revenue 
Assurance 

General 
Control

Credit 
management

Defines, deploys, manages and assesses operations and the risk management and internal 
control systems on behalf of the Executive Committee
Implements processes certified under ISO 9001 (2015) with an integrated approach to audit, control and risk

In cooperation with the following departments
Corporate Social Responsibility, Security, Data Protection, Compliance, 
Human Resources, Procurement, Insurance, etc.

Communicate, lead and support

Entities/Operating subsidiaries

Roll out and continuously improve risk management and internal control systems 
Identify, assess, process and report the risks within their scope

 
 
 
112 

Orange 

Risk 

Description and impact 

a  Breach of integrity or 

confidentiality of data or information 

a  Unlawful access to data and information through cyberattacks, injunctions from authorities or new 
technology not yet fully mastered may compromise information and data integrity, confidentiality 
or storage and potentially invade individuals’ privacy or compromise business continuity 

a  Ethical breach 

a
a

  Damage to the Group’s image and reputation due to non-compliance with internal and external rules 
 Sanctions against the company and/or its employees, damage to Group property and assets 

a Overreliance on a supplier 

a  Disruptive business models or innovation 

a
a
a
a
a

  Deterioration in quality or performance due to failure on the part of a key supplier 
 Contractual terms imposed by a monopoly supplier 
 Supply chain disruption 
 Business disruption 
  Revision of the Group’s strategy following the integration of new technologies 
(5G, AI and big data, etc.) 

a
a
a
a
a

  Infrastructure obsolescence 
 Insuffcient scale of infrastructure 
  Loss of contact with customers 
 Societal obstacles hampering the development of new technology 
  Drop in performance due to disruptive technology, business models or regulation that could affect 
the appeal or proftability of our products and services 

a  Failure to adapt and/or diversify 

a
a
a
a

  Financial losses 
  Decline in employee morale 
 Failure of the energy transition 
 Damage to our image and reputation 

a  Geopolitical and macroeconomic 

instability 

a
a
a

  Threat to the security and safety of people and property 
Breaches of fundamental freedoms resulting from injunctions from local authorities 
  Decline in fnancial performance 

a  Major business disruption 

a  Loss in quality or disruption or interruption of services provided due to a technical malfunction, 
operational failure, cyberattack, damage to our infrastructure or injunctions from authorities 

a  Lack of key or rare skills 

a
a
a
a

  Delayed launch or discontinuation of new businesses or transformation initiatives 
  Major business disruption 
  Increased reliance on suppliers 
  Decline in employee morale 

a  Non-compliance with laws, regulations 

or contractual obligations 

a

a

  Additional costs to achieve compliance, in particular in areas where the legal framework remains in 
fux (IoT, AI, blockchain, etc.) 
  Litigation, administrative, civil or criminal sanctions at either local or international level, revocation 
of business licences 

a  Health and safety of people 

a
a
a

a

  Deterioration in working conditions 
  Physical and mental harm to employees, customers and partners 
  Strengthening of the law regarding the precautionary principle in the context of 
internet and mobile use 
  Restriction of use 

   
 
 
 
    
  
  
 
   
 
   
    
  
 
   
  
 
   
   
 
   
 
   
   
   
   
 
   
 
  
   
   
   
   
    
 
   
 
   
 
 
   
 
 
   
   
 
   
  
 
   
 
    
   
 
   
 
   
 
 
2019 Integrated Annual Report

113

Examples of protection/prevention measures

The Group Security Department oversees a comprehensive security system. It also contributes to improving measures to protect infrastructure, products and 
services by implementing a Security by Design approach (to address security issues right from the design phase) and rolling out targeted mechanisms to 
protect and supervise networks and the IT system.
The Data Protection Officer coordinates all privacy-related programmes and measures.
The Group helps develop skills in new technology and cybersecurity through a variety of organisations (such as the Orange Cyberdefense Academy and the 
Microsoft AI school).

The Group is improving digital inclusion and addressing other social issues by expanding its network and developing specific packages and services, 
through the Orange Foundation and Duty of care plan, as well as its involvement in various think tanks including the European Commission’s AI Impact 
group. 
It runs employee training and awareness programmes on a regular basis, and the Governance and Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility 
Committee ensures employees adhere to charters and policies and oversees compliance programmes (ethics, anti-corruption, CSR, etc.). The associated 
management and control systems undergo regular internal and external assessments.

The purchasing policy, steered by the Global Procurement & Supply Chain Department, includes a risk assessment in the supplier selection and 
monitoring process. The Group conducts regular audits of its suppliers and closely monitors suppliers at risk of bankruptcy. 
As a founding member of the Joint Audit Cooperation (JAC), Orange plays a very active part in this association of operators, which seeks to audit, assess 
and develop the implementation on CSR in the production plants of the largest multinational telecoms suppliers.
The Group readily updates its procurement strategy and frequently reviews its choice of suppliers in light of market threats and opportunities. 

The Group’s investment policy focuses heavily on research and innovation, contributing to programmes run by the private and public sector 
(in France and the EU for example), getting involved with standard-setting bodies (such as the GSMA) and supporting start-up accelerators through the 
Orange Fabs network. The Technology and Global Innovation Department supports the Group’s transformation to becoming a multi-service operator. It 
brings together strategic innovation design and research and implementation of technical and data strategies for the Group.

The Group continues to progress with its new Engage 2025 strategy, led by the various relevant departments including its Transformation Department. 
The practical measures it is taking to do so include entering into partnerships with key industry stakeholders, investing in ventures that will further strategic 
innovation and diversification priorities, and working on projects aimed at improving the Group’s working methods. 

Orange uses monitoring systems to anticipate a number of eventualities including national conflicts, international tensions, crises of all kinds (financial 
crashes, health crises and mass migration, etc.) and to take appropriate steps to avoid or mitigate the risks and protect people and assets. 

Orange factors resilience into its solutions right from the design phase, using a variety of mechanisms (Security by Design, backups, thorough acceptance 
tests, etc.).
The Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) run by the Security Department is deployed across our business units. The system includes 
backup sites, preventive movement of infrastructure, system redundancy, business recovery plans, etc.

The Group implements a strategic workforce planning policy. 
Orange Campus develops varied and innovative learning experiences with, where necessary, the support of a network of key partners (schools, 
universities, companies, start-ups, non-profit organisations and institutions). 
The Group provides these courses, which are also available on the Orange learning website, to support employees in developing their careers.

The Group’s Legal Department ensures all its operating regions and businesses are covered, including the programmes and organisations focused on key 
issues in the present day or the future: General Data Protection Regulation, Duty of care, international economic sanctions, international corruption laws, 
climate reporting (TCFD etc.) 

The Group pursues a proactive risk prevention policy with its own budget and special agreements. The policy has led to the application of the social 
contract and our pledge to be a digital and caring employer, the occupational health office’s initiatives and the implementation of our Duty of care 
plan. The Group ensures its equipment and devices meet all current health requirements and supports public and private epidemiological research 
programmes (conducted by the World Health Organization and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, etc.). It 
develops tools to measure wave intensity and circulates safety information to employees and customers on the responsible use of technology, in 
particular through websites designed to support families (betterinternetforkids.eu, bienvivreledigital.fr, etc.).

    
114

Orange

Mission accomplished 
for Essentials2020

In 2015, as part of the Essentials2020 plan, Orange took on a unique, challenging and 
powerful ambition to offer all its customers around the world an unmatched experience.
To achieve this, we focused on five priorities: offering enriched connectivity, reinventing 
the customer relationship, building a company model that is both digital and caring, guiding 
businesses through their own digital transformation and diversifying by capitalising on 
our assets. All the while, we continued our efforts to become an efficient and responsible 
digital company.

Our excellent business performance over the last five years confirms the success of our 
strategic choice to develop fibre and convergence offers. We have also made substantial 
strides forward in improving our customers’ experience. Furthermore, the Group has 
successfully begun transforming its business lines, in particular its BtoB activities. These 
results have been made possible by the loyalty and engagement of our employees, over 80% 
of whom would recommend Orange as an employer today.

Customer experience

Become and remain No.1 in Net Promoter Score (NPS) for 3 out of 4 customers by 2018

Improve Orange’s Brand Power Index (BPI) in our various markets by 2018

Offering enriched connectivity

Triple the average data throughput of our customers on both fixed and mobile networks
by 2018 compared with 2014

Reinventing the consumer

Conduct 50% of customer interactions in Europe via digital channels by 2018

Building a company that is both 
digital and caring

Reach 90% of employees recommending Orange as an employer in 2018

Guiding businesses through 
their own digital transformation

Increase the share of IT & Integration services in the Orange Business Services revenue mix 
by 10 percentage points by 2020

Diversifying by capitalising on 
our assets

Successfully diversify into new services to exceed €1 billion in revenues in 2018

 Revenues 

Ensure 2018 revenues exceed 2014 revenues

 Adjusted EBITDA 

Ensure 2018 adjusted EBITDA exceeds 2014 adjusted EBITDA and is at least level on 2015 
on a comparable basis

 Dividend

Maintain the dividend at least at €0.60 per share each year between 2015 and 2018

Ratio of net financial debt to 
adjusted EBITDA

Maintain the ratio of net financial debt to adjusted EBITDA in telecom activities 

For further details on the Essentials2020 indicators and Group indicators, see the 2018 Integrated Annual Report.

Objective fully 
achieved

Objective achieved
 > 75%

Objective achieved between 
60 and 75%

2019 Integrated Annual Report

115

116

Orange

2019 Integrated Annual Report

117

Useful links and contacts

Useful links
Integrated Annual Report 
Corporate website  
Orange Business Services 
Universal Registration Document 
Corporate Social Responsibility 
Working at Orange 
Orange Healthcare 
Orange Foundation 
Digital Society Forum 
Bien vivre le digital 
Follow us on Facebook 
Follow us on Twitter 

Contacts 
Investors and analysts 
Individual shareholders 

rai2019.orange.com/en
orange.com
orange-business.com
orange.com/en/Investors/Regulated-information
gallery.orange.com/rse
orange.jobs
healthcare.orange.com
fondationorange.com/en
digital-society-forum.orange.com/en
bienvivreledigital.orange.fr (French only)
facebook.com/Orange
@orange
@orangeRSE
@presseorange

investor.relations@orange.com
orange@relations-actionnaires.com
orange.com/shareholders 

 
  
 
 
118

Orange

Orange – Communication and Brand Department
78, rue Olivier de Serres – 75015 Paris (France)
+33 (0)1 44 44 22 22 
A French société anonyme with a share capital of €10,640,226,396 
Registration number 380 129 866 (Paris Trade and Companies Register)

Copywriting and graphic design
Pelham Media & Studio L’Éclaireur

Translation
Alto International

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