Orange on track for 2004 3G launch
- Added:
- Apr 30, 2004
A bust up at a summit in Cannes in February saw major European mobile operators blaming handset makers for the delay in 3G launches due to cumbersome and inefficient devices. The problems caused Thierry Breton, CEO of Orange parent France Telecom, to moot an end of the year launch for Orange.
And, on announcing its first quarter results yesterday, Orange CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja said: "We are on track to deliver full commercial 3G services to our customers in the second half of the year in the UK and France."
Orange launched customer trials of its 3G network in more than more than 20 cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Cannes and Toulouse in February.
The mobile giant increased pro-forma revenue to EU4.7bn (£3.17bn) from EU4.2bn (£2.83bn) in 2003. Total customer base increased by 11.5% year-on-year to more than 50 million from the 44.9 million customers in the same period last year with a gain of 28.4% in 'rest of the world' customers. Nearly a third of customers now residing outside the UK and France.
February 25 2004:
February 25 2004:
"www.orange.com ":http://www.orange.com