Orange reveals 2012 plan

Orange parent company France Telecom has unveiled its ‘2012’ plan to keep the Orange group’s annual cashflow equivalent to the €8 billion (£7.12 million) it generated in 2008.

The company said in a statement: “Orange 2012s financial ambition is to maintain annual organic cashflow over the 2009 to 2011 period at a level equivalent to that achieved in 2008, based on current macroeconomic forecasts before any acquisition of spectrum.

“This assumes that investment will remain steady at 12 to 13 per cent of revenues. The group’s new action plans should generate up to 1.5 billion euros in terms of annual savings on costs or investments. This will facilitate the group in achieving its Orange 2012 financial ambition by balancing the negative factors impacting margins linked in particular to the economic, the competitive or the regulatory environments.”

The 2012 ‘Action Plan’ includes initiatives focussed around simplifying the customer experience, and enhancing the group’s ‘business agility’.

The Orange group will aim to improve customers’ understanding of new technologies, by making store design and marketing material simpler. It would also focus on simplifying product usage and create a dedicated design and ergonomics team to improve call centre procedures and launch further customer care and backup products.

Networks across the group will rationalise their offers to speed up their time to market and optimise cost structures.

Orange 2012 will also involve further sharing of networks, information systems and platforms within and outside the network and heightening the impact of the Orange brand.

The group will continue to pursue new growth opportunities in the areas of content and online advertising. It will tap into technology that allows interactivity and personalisation, or the ability to deploy multi-screen services across TV, PCs and mobiles.

Orange UK financial results are due to be released today.