France Telecom-Orange

Headquarters: 
France

France Telecom-Orange devotes considerable resources to NFC and mobile payment at its French and UK offices and R&D centers.

France’s largest telco, Orange is also poised to become the largest mobile operator in the UK. Orange had planned to show the world the way to NFC rollouts with a planned commercial launch originally targeted for Q1 2008 in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux.

But Orange had to pull the plug on the highly touted project when, among other problems, its transit partner, Veolia Transport, lost its contract to serve the city. A tad chastened by the setback, Orange is unlikely to move boldly alone again in France.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Orange, the No. 3 mobile operator, plans to merge with No. 4 T-Mobile. Provided regulators approve the deal, it would create the country’s largest mobile telco–with more than 28 million subscribers and a combined share of more than 35% in the UK’s hypercompetitive market.

In March 2009, Orange UK joined Britain’s premier credit card issuer, Barclaycard, to announce plans to develop NFC payment and other services. The partnership could spawn a commercial launch as early as 2010. The pair in January 2010 launched a contactless credit card that offers users mobile transaction alerts.

Orange continues to play a key role in shaping NFC policy in France and beyond and was instrumental, along with other French telcos, in pushing the SIM as the preferred place to store secure applications in NFC phones. The GSM Association, the influential global mobile operator trade group, later adopted that SIM-centric model for NFC and has been pushing it on banks and other service providers.

The company is setting up its Orange Business Services wing as a trusted service manager to administer NFC applications on phones and other devices–although its flagship operator, Orange France, may decide to go outside the company for TSM services.

Orange also has major operations in Spain, Poland and other European countries, as well as the Middle East and Africa. It has experimented with a network-based mobile-payment service, Orange Money, in Africa.

Key figures: 
Customer Base – France 2009
2008
Change*
Subscribers 25.4 24.5 3.4%

Mobile, in millions, for Sept. of year indicated *For unrounded figures

Financial Results – France 1H 2009 1H 2008 Change
Revenue 5,373 5,049 6.4%
EBITA 558 561 -0.5%
Mobile operations, in millions of euros
Customer Base – UK 2009
2008
Change*
Subscribers 16.1 15.8 1.9%
Mobile, in millions, for Sept. of year indicated  *For unrounded figures
Financial Results – UK 1H 2009 1H 2008 Change
Revenue 2,451 2,499 1.9%
EBITA 558 561 -0.5%
Mobile operations, in millions of euros
Key NFC Personnel: 
Thierry Millet, VP, mobile payments and contactless services, group
Vincent Barnaud, head of marketing and innovation for electronic payments and transactions, group
Major NFC and Contactless competitors: 

France: SFR, Bouygues Telecom, UK: Telefónica O2, Vodafone

Last Updated: 
Jan 2012
Author: 
Balaban

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.

Moscow Metro Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.