Orange unveiled a new strategic plan covering the period up to 2025, aiming to generate more value from its key assets to meet growing financial challenges, at a time when Christel Heydemann (pictured left) is at a crossroads for the designated industry.
Heydemann presented the “Lead the Future” strategic plan during an event that included the release of Orange’s Q4 2022 results and Capital Markets Day. The CEO said the plan reflects the quality of the operator’s infrastructure and solid finances, giving it a unique place in the industry.
Heydemann’s early tenure was arguably a success as Orange stated it had met all of its 2022 financial targets, but the CEO noted that the company “does not underestimate the difficulties within the sector and our environment” and the need to “transform our business”. to increase agility.”
Lead the future
The strategic plan has four pillars related to revenue generation, capitalization of current business, transformation and growth.
Orange plans to increase service quality through the use of AI and plans to launch a next-generation satellite service in France later this year in partnership with Eutelsat.
Spain hopes for a proposed merger with Masmovil and a merger with VOO in Belgium to create the financial capacity and scale to compete, and more broadly to build new services and applications including on-demand business networks .
The second pillar includes continuous investments in fixed and mobile networks, targeting strategic partnerships in RAN sharing and establishing joint companies to share financial costs and secure investments.
In mobile, Orange plans to add value to the passive infrastructure operated by its tower company Totem, which it says has “all the strengths needed to be a major player in European consolidation”.
Orange also plans to modernize its fixed and mobile networks and phase out its domestic copper network, as well as 2G and 3G networks across Europe by 2030.
It will also seek enterprise growth, with a focus on cloud and collaborative software, to “enter new realities of a market where the boundaries between networks and digital services are disappearing.”
As part of this transition, the Orange Business Services unit will be renamed Orange Business. The company also aspires to become a leader in cybersecurity, targeting €1.3 billion in revenue by 2025.
Finally, the company aims to further expand its position in Africa and the Middle East, targeting annual sales growth of 7 percent between 2022 and 2025 and a significant increase in profitability.
Heydemann added that there are plans to offset “70 percent of the impact of inflation on our costs through price increases in 2023” in Europe, including France.
Q4 numbers
Sales rose 1.3 percent year-on-year to 11.4 billion euros, driven by retail services, which grew 2.5 percent.
In France, the figure was flat at 4.7 billion euros, while the Europe division grew 2.1 percent to 2.9 billion euros, driven by convergence activities, B2B and roaming.
Africa and the Middle East rose 5.7 percent to 1.8 billion euros, driven by mobile data and fixed broadband.
Enterprise remained flat at €2.1 billion and Totem’s revenue increased 25 percent to €188 million.
Mobile subscribers grew 5.9 percent to 241.9 million, ending 2022 with 11.6 million converged users.
Net income rose to 2.6 billion euros from 778 million euros, while sales remained unchanged at 43.5 billion euros.
