7 replies to this topic

[The Doctor]

France Telecom, the owner of Orange, has announced it will be selling Orange Netherlands! This is the second sale of an Orange network after Orange Denmark was sold to the danish telecom company TeliaSonera.

According to our very own peekie, moderator of the dutch forum, the sale is taking place because France Telecom did not acquire the percentage of market share they had hoped to gain by buying the company in the first place. With 1.9 million mobile customers and in excess of 600,000 broadband internet subscribers, Orange NL are ranked as the third largest provider in the Netherlands.

Deutsche Telekom, the German owner of T-Mobile and fourth largest provider in the Netherlands, looks set to be the most likely buyer of Orange NL and have put in an offer of 1.6 billion euros.

Unfortunately, this means that the extensive range of Orange SPV's will disappear from the Netherlands, only to be replaced with T-Mobile's lesser MDA range. This, coupled with the recent departure of i-mate devices from the Netherlands, means it looks like our dutch members will now be severely restricted in their choice of Windows Mobile devices that are on available to them, after previously having a broad range of devices available to them from Orange.

Phil

[Additional source]

[loki_f]

Wow... I used to work for Orange Netherlands, and was involved in the rebrand from DutchTone and the launch of the original SPV (I remember the Sendo and original Stinger prototypes and I tested one the prototypes for the original SPV which was called the SPX1 at the time - which is when my love affair with WinMo devices began).  It's sad to see that despite the fact that ONL went from being the least successful provider in the Netherlands to 3rd (which is quite an achievement), that FT are so keen to offload the company.

I suppose it would be a wise move for T-Mobile as it should give them a good standing against Vodafone and KPN as well as giving them full control of the shared 3G mast network that they built with Orange in the first place and a broadband infrastructure.

The loss of a competitor in a market is never a good thing...

[moonshot]

..............means it looks like our dutch members will now be severely restricted in their choice of Windows Mobile devices that are on available to them, after previously having a broad range of devices available to them from Orange.

Much the same as us in the UK with Orange, we have been and still are severely restricted.

[Thumper Net]

Problem is when will orange uk go under the hammer ? as t-mobile plan to stop windows mobile phones in early 2008 in favour of a nokia agreement it could be the end , not only for the phones but here at modaco , something no one wants to happen , hope t-mobile    do not buy orange nl but the last i heard the deal is on the table , this time next week we will know the new owner hopefully a future for windows mobile

[tsutton]

peekie, on May 26 2007, 22:45, said:

as t-mobile plan to stop windows mobile phones in early 2008 in favour of a nokia agreement it could be the end

:-|

Where did you hear that?

[Thumper Net]

The latest over the selling of orange nl is as follows....

Quote

Second Bids For Dutch Orange Unit Sale  

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Potential buyers in the sale of France Telecom's Dutch mobile operation, Orange, are preparing to submit second bids by May 18, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday

Lazard is advising on the sale process, which has attracted both strategic and private-equity buyers, the person said.

At a valuation of nine times 2006 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, the business is likely to be valued between EUR800 million and EUR900 million, the person added.

Orange is the smallest mobile operator in the Netherlands with an estimated market share of 8%, analysts say. Royal KPN is market leader with a market share of almost 50%, followed by Vodafone Group and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile.

Orange said it has about 1.9 million mobile customers in the Netherlands and 612,000 Internet users

The above quote was from dow jones who seem to get their facts wrong as orange is the 3rd biggest network followed by t-mobile and then the now dead telfort ( now kpn owned )

hopefully soon we will know the outcome from orange nl

[mavisdavis]

Heres a little bit of TOP SECRET info for you all. Orange uk have been bought out by Vodafone, The plans are set in concrete and will be announced early nxt year,

Remember where you heard it 1st Guys ;-)

Hopefully they're Customer care will improve somewhat now...

Edited by mavisdavis, 29 May 2007 - 08:49 PM.

[Thumper Net]

Orange nederland is now owned by duits telecom owner of t-mobile this was confirmed in a press release from france telecom