Orange (Spain)

Orange Espagne, S. A. U. is the Spanish subsidiary of the French multinational company Orange. The operator uses the "Orange" trademark, through which it offers telephone, internet and television services (Orange TV) in Spain.

Orange was launched by France Télécom as a commercial brand in Spain on October 3, 2006 to unify the fixed telephone and internet operator brand Wanadoo (previously Uni2) and the mobile operator Amena (acquired in 2005 from the Auna Group). Currently, it is the second operator in the country in mobile telephony and the third in fixed telephony.

The company is in the process of merging with Grupo MásMóvil to form a joint company that will begin operations in the second quarter of 2023. The resulting company will have 43.4% of the mobile lines and 42.1% of the lines fixed broadband in Spain.

History

Liberalization of the telecommunications market

In 1993, the European Commission agreed to liberalize the telecommunications market in the European Union by 1998. To this end, the government of Spain agreed to initially liberalize mobile telephony by calling a contest in 1994, which the Airtel consortium won. (current Vodafone). Airtel began operating in 1995, breaking for the first time the monopoly held by the former state company Telefónica. For the liberation of fixed telephony and the Internet, the Spanish government decided that same year that it would privatize and convert Retevisión, the former public company for broadcasting television signals, into a telecommunications operator. In 1996 France Télécom (FT) announced its intention to enter the Spanish market by purchasing Retevisión, however the company was acquired by a rival consortium in the following year. FT also unsuccessfully participated in the competition to manage the Madrid regional cable operator.

In 1998, the Spanish government called a contest for the third fixed-line telephone license, in which only FT participated. On December 1 of that same year, France Télécom began operating in Spain under the "Uni2" brand. In March 1999, FT acquired the Spanish ISP CTV-Jet, one of the three main ISPs in the country and that same year it began to offer Internet services. Later, FT would unify its Internet products under the "Wanadoo" brand.

Acquisition of Amena and creation of Orange

In 1998 the Spanish government called a competition to grant a new mobile telephone license. Fránce Télécom also participated in the contest, but the license was finally granted to Retevisión. For this purpose, Retevisión created the "Amena" brand, which would begin operating in January 1999.

In 2000, a competition was called for a fourth mobile telephone license in which FT would once again participate, leading a consortium called "Movi2". The French company failed again in its attempt to access the telephone market. mobile since the Xfera Móviles consortium (current Yoigo) finally obtained the license.

Amena slowly increased its market share until it reached 24% in 2005, the year in which an agreement was reached to sell the company to the French company France Télécom. At the beginning of August 2006 the change of ownership took place.

Commercially, France Télécom refused to maintain the Amena banner because its brand strategy focuses on the use of the same brand globally, Orange. In October the disappearance of Amena was officially announced and it was replaced by the Orange brand.

In 2007, Jean Marc Vignolles replaced Belarmino García, former general director of Amena, as CEO of the company. That same year, France Télécom bought its subsidiary in Spain, Ya.com, from the German group Deutsche Telekom, which had 400,000 customers, for 320 million euros. Ya.com operated as a low-cost subsidiary until its complete absorption in September 2012.

Strategy of different brands

In 2012, Orange Spain decided to enter the low-cost market, with aggressive rates in exchange for the lack of value-added services. For this purpose, he decided to recover, five years later, the "Amena" as a second brand. The company justified this decision by saying that using a previously known brand would not require a large investment in advertising, which made it the ideal brand for this low-cost operator. The brand was reborn, recovering its most characteristic features such as the use of the color green. The logo was redesigned with respect to that of the old 'Amena', eliminating the features of the old logo that were reminiscent of the previous owner of the brand, Retevisión.

In December of the same year, it bought its subsidiary in Spain from the Dutch group KPN, which operated under the brand "Simyo" for approximately 30 million euros and began to manage it as a second low-cost brand. With this move, Orange began to have a second low-cost brand under its control, operating as an MVNO under the coverage of its parent company and adding 380,000 new users. to your client portfolio. Simyo was legally renamed Orange España Virtual, S.L.U.

In September 2014, Orange launched a takeover bid for the Spanish operator Jazztel, whose fundamental motive was to take over its fiber network to compete in this sector, in which it had lagged behind, since the deployment of fiber of Orange was much lower than that of its competitors, while Jazztel already had access to 4 million real estate units.

In July 2015, the takeover bid was favorable for Orange after long months of waiting and numerous conditions from Europe (such as having to sell the ADSL and Fiber network left over from the merger to another operator and committing not to raise prices in the next years). Orange appointed Jean-Marc Vignolles, CEO of Orange, as the new CEO of Jazztel.

In February 2016, the merger by absorption of Jazztel took place, legally disappearing but remaining as a commercial brand of Orange Spain.

At the end of 2018, it acquired the operator República Móvil, for which it paid around 25 million euros. República Móvil legally became Orange España Virtual, S.L.U., the same corporate name as Simyo.

On June 12, 2021, the integration of the República Móvil brand into Simyo, announced by Orange in April of that year, materialized.

On September 1, 2021, the Amena brand ceased to be operational and the migration of its customers to the Orange brand began. In this way, Orange Spain's brand portfolio would be made up of the brands "Orange", "Jazztel" and 'Simyo', high, medium and low range, all with convergent products with fiber and mobile.

On March 8, 2022, Orange España and the MásMóvil Group announced that they had begun a period of negotiations for the creation of a 50:50 joint company with a valuation of 19.6 billion euros and that would make it the operator telecommunications company with the most clients in Spain and the second in billing behind Telefónica. The merger is expected to conclude in the second quarter of 2023 and will have to have the approval of Spanish and European regulators.

On September 13, 2022, Orange Spain announces that, in its metaverse space, it will create a virtual store where products from brands such as Oppo, Honor, Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi can be purchased. among other. They announced that in their space we will be able to see Orange commercials who will be able to serve their customers through their avatar.

Acquisitions

Products

Mobile telephony

Orange uses GSM 900 MHz (EGSM) and 1800 MHz (DCS) technologies, as well as UMTS (3G) from the former Amena. It belongs to the FreeMove alliance. In April 2015, the Government of Spain opened the ban on the use of band 800, necessary for the new generation of 4G networks. Since July of the same year, both Orange and its main rivals, Movistar and Vodafone, have been enabling these frequencies by allowing, among other advantages, better indoor penetration.

As of February 2016, Orange is the second mobile telephone company in Spain by number of subscribers, with 13.9 million active mobile subscriptions.

As an evolution to the above, in December 2021 Orange España and Onda Cero carried out the first broadcast of a live radio program using the 5G NSA (Non Stand Alone) network at the 3.5 GHz frequency and a bandwidth 60 MHz.

Fixed broadband Internet

Orange offers fixed broadband internet connection through ADSL and fiber optic technologies. As of September 2017, the company has 4.2 million fixed broadband customers, including 2.08 million fiber optic customers.

Convergence of technologies (telephony, internet and television)

Orange sells the Unik phone, which allows you to make calls using both the mobile network and WiFi coverage, if you have contracted the LiveBox offer. Uses UMA technology. The terminals used, at the moment, are from the Nokia, Samsung and Motorola brands.

On the other hand, Orange offers different combinations of line maintenance, ADSL with Wi-Fi router, TV through its Orange TV service, calls (from landline to landline and from landline to mobile) and USB modem or PCMCIA card.

On pay television:

• Movistar+ (Movistar España)
• Vodafone TV (Vodafone Spain)

Brands and subsidiaries

The Orange brand is used in the vast majority of countries where the Orange group operates, using the same logo and the same corporate image. The logo is an orange square on which the word "orange" using the slightly retouched Helvetica font. Orange also uses Helvetica Neue for its advertising and external communication. It stands out chromatically due to its intensive use of the color orange, normally highlighted on black backgrounds.

Orange Spain has the following brands and subsidiaries:

• Orange: Brand offering fixed telephony, mobile phone, internet (fiber and 5G) and television.
• Jazztel: Brand offering fixed telephony, mobile phone and internet (ADSL, fiber and 5G).
• Simyo: A filter that offers mobile phone and internet (fiber and 4G).

Virtual mobile operators

In 2021, in addition to the MVNOs owned by Orange Spain (Jazztel and Simyo), there are several MVNOs that have agreements with Orange Spain to use their network coverage.

Criticism and sanctions

Orange Spain has received criticism from consumer associations such as OCU and FACUA for misleading advertising, improper charges and non-compliance with promotions.

On June 1, 2015, the Supreme Court confirmed the fine of 29.95 million that the National Competition Commission imposed on Orange in 2012 for abuse of a dominant position by applying excessive prices in the wholesale service they provide to consumers. virtual mobile operators (those that do not have their own network) for the sending and receiving of text messages (SMS) and multimedia messages (MMS) at the national level.

On February 28, 2018, Court No. 2 of La Coruña condemned Orange for carrying out the abusive practice of issuing invoices for complete billing periods instead of their fraction when the cancellation occurs before the end of said period. period. To do this, you must refrain from issuing invoices for complete periods in such cases and stop carrying out this practice in the future.