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Orange Israel is on sale, too
It’s like everyone’s “trading Oranges” these days. Just recently, we’ve seen Three Austria acquiring the local branch of Orange and now Partner Communications is looking to sell its big stake (44.5%) in Orange Israel. The company has apparently already hired investment bankers to look at options to get as much money as possible for the mobile network. To sweeten the deal, one of the advisors, Deutsche Bank, said it will offer credit lines of up to $1 billion if necessary to the prospective buyer. Partner Communications’ stake is worth around … Read more
Dusan Belic
Hutchison Three Austria acquires Orange Austria
We told you consolidation is coming to Austria, and voila – the local branch of Hutchison Three has finally (started) acquiring Orange Austria, having agreed to pay 1.3 billion EUR to France Telecom which owns 35% stake and private equity investors Mid Europa Partners (65%). As part of the deal, Hutchison will sell frequencies, base station sites, the mobile phone operator Yesss! Telekommunikation along with certain intellectual property rights to Telekom Austria Group, immediately after the acquisition is completed. As usual, the transaction is a subject to the approval by … Read more
Dusan Belic
Orange to offer free Wikipedia mobile access in Africa and the Middle East
Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation are teaming-up to provide more than 70 million Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East (AMEA) with free mobile access to Wikipedia. The goal of the partnership is to “make knowledge more easily available to Orange mobile customers,” while getting some press love along the way. And since it’s a good cause, we can’t help but give the operator exposure at IntoMobile. This new partnership will be gradually launched throughout 2012 across 20 African and Middle Eastern countries, with the first markets launching early … Read more
Dusan Belic
UK: Sony Xperia S coming to O2, Orange and Three
Even though it was just announced at the CES in Las Vegas, Sony has already managed to secure distribution for its Xperia S smartphone in the UK, where 3 of the leading mobile operators will offer the powerful device. Telefónica’s O2, Orange and Hutchison’s Three are all on board, while Vodafone said it “has no plans” to list Sony’s baby. Although we’ve no idea how much each carrier will ask for the Sony Xperia S, it’s safe to bet all of ‘em will give away the device, while requiring users’ … Read more
Dusan Belic
Orange confirms its Swiss unit sale, new owner eyes merger with Sunrise
France Telecom confirmed it is selling Orange Switzerland to private equity firm Apax Partners for 1.6 billion EUR. Previous rumors indicated some other potential buyers, including private equity firms EQT and Providence, as well as a bid from Xavier Niel (the French telecoms entrepreneur, who had teamed with Goldman Sachs), and Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. Apax Partners doesn’t want to stop there and is eyeing merger with other Swiss mobile operator Sunrise, in a deal that will likely face close regulatory scrutiny. As a matter of fact, such a merger … Read more
Dusan Belic
France Telecom sells Orange Switzerland to Apax Partners for $2.14 billion
As part of the strategy to optimize its asset portfolio, France Telecom is selling its Swiss unit, Orange Switzerland, to Apax Partners for 2 billion CHF ($2.14 billion), which corresponds to a multiple of 6.5x of the company’s estimated 2011 EBITDA. The transaction is still a subject to the approval of the Swiss authorities and will be submitted to the France Telecom’s Board of Directors for approval during the week commencing on January 9, 2012. Orange Switzerland was established in 1999 and has posted revenue of 1.3 billion CHF (1.1 … Read more
Dusan Belic
White Orange San Francisco II coming soon
Orange’s San Francisco II will soon be available in white. Such a device already “earned” a place at the carrier’s “Coming Soon” page though we still don’t know when exactly it will be released. Aside from a different color, there won’t be any other changes included. In that sense, expect the same 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera on the back, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth while Android 2.3 Gingerbread will run the show. As for the price, something tells us it will remain the same (as the black version) … Read more
Dusan Belic
Three offers 1.4 billion EUR for Orange Austria
Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, which operates Three (brand) mobile networks, is reportedly offering 1.4 billion EUR for Orange Austria to merge it with its operations in the country (3 Austria). According to local press reports, a deal could go through as soon as next month, though none of the parties involved commented. At the moment, Orange has 2.2 million connections and Three – 1.3 million. The new company would stand a chance to compete with the two leading carriers in the country, Telekom Austria’s A1 (5.2 million connections) and T-Mobile … Read more
Dusan Belic
Orange San Francisco II to be available for 99 GBP with 10 GBP credit
Yeah we knew Orange is preparing to launch the San Francisco II, a successor to the entry-level ZTE-made Android smartphone. The France Telecom-owned carrier isn’t that quiet about the device launch any more, having released a promotional video on YouTube. That, however, doesn’t mean the phone got its page on Orange’s website – or at least I couldn’t find it at the moment of this writing. I’m not sure what’s the idea here. Anyway, the new San Francisco phone will come with the same (as its predecessor) 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, … Read more
Dusan Belic
Orange San Francisco II shows its face
We’ve already told you Orange and ZTE are working on the next San Francisco smartphone and… it’s almost here as you can see from the leaked press image above. Unfortunately we still have no idea when Orange will officially launch the San Francisco II, but it’s fair to argue that will happen sooner rather than later. Specs wise, this affordable device will sport a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen (the same as the original San Francisco), 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel camera on the back, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, microSD memory card slot, while … Read more
Dusan Belic
Orange UK now offers Acer Liquid Express for free with 20.50 GBP/month plan
The Acer Liquid Express is now available from Orange UK. We’ve first seen this low-to-mid end Android smartphone back in September and now everyone can get it for free on a plan that costs at least 20.50 GBP per month. That money either gets you 300 minutes and unlimited texts; or 100 minutes, unlimited texts, and 500 MB of data every month. If you need more minutes and megabytes, you can grab some more expensive plan to get up to 900 minutes and 1 GB of data for whopping 41 … Read more