Wanadoo to blow €200m on Orange name change

What ya wanadoo that for?

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 29th June 2005 14:46 GMT

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France Telecom is to spend €200m changing the name of its Wanadoo ISP to Orange - the brightly-coloured name of its mobile phone operation.

Details of the corporate make-over were released today as FT gave more detail about its massive rebranding exercise.

The UK is set to be the first country to get a new lick of paint even though the business only went through a rebranding last year when the ISP's name was changed from Freeserve to Wanadoo.

From next year it will be known as Orange, followed by Wanadoo's other ISP operations in countries including Spain and the Netherlands .

The axing of the Wanadoo brand comes as FT announced the introduction of a "whole new world of services in the areas of communication, infotainment and everyday life".

Among the new products to be introduced in France before being rolled out to other countries is a fixed line and mobile combo aimed at families for €39 a month and a broadband telephone that tells punters when they receive emails.

FT also plans to offer a remote surveillance system for the home that works using a mobile or a computer.

The ambitious proposals form part of FT's NExT (New Experience in Telecom services) proposals which it claims will "give customers access to a universe of services that are both high value and simple".

"The programme will also enable the group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator, supported by its renewed model for profitable growth," said FT in a statement. ®