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Press Release -- July 7th, 2011
Source: Orange Business
Tags: Earnings, Exchange

TeliaSonera joins the M2M Service Cooperation Agreement of France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom

Stockholm/Paris/Bonn, July 7, 2011

  • secures the availability and reliability of M2M roaming services on a global scale
  • enhanced M2M services available in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, UK and now Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania

TeliaSonera has signed the cooperation agreement with France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom to increase the quality of service and interoperability for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The agreement, which initially was signed by France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom in February 2011 to cover France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg, has since then added The Netherlands and most recently the UK through Everything Everywhere to its purview. The M2M service footprint will now extend to cover TeliaSonera’s geographical reach, including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania.

While roaming agreements have been managed bi-laterally only, concentrated within single markets, this multi-lateral cooperation agreement will provide roaming services with enhanced service quality across the countries that already agree to participate in the agreement, thus enhancing customer experience. Continuous connection quality and network interoperability ensure M2M services for both machines and goods on the move (in the transportation and automotive industries, for example), and for customers whose business models require continuous access (eHealth providers, for example). So dedicated network supervision processes and interoperability are vital in leveraging the relatively low volume but highly critical data collected by these devices and delivering cutting-edge applications to users.

Against this background both the partners and the customers using M2M solutions will benefit from operability across borders and enhanced M2M service quality in the mobile networks of the cooperation members. But the three groups are not only focused on enlarging the M2M service footprint, but also to keep an elevated level of innovation, by extending the M2M service portfolio and by entering into further partnerships in the M2M market segment.

“With this agreement, now three groups are significantly pushing the boundaries of the M2M ecosystem,” said Anne-Marie Thiollet, executive vice president Enterprise Line of Business, Orange Business Services. “Global availability and reliability will spur the commercial adoption of M2M services and stimulate new innovations to the forefront. We are happy to welcome  TeliaSonera as a member of our partnership and look forward to other carriers joining us in this endeavor; only by working together can we make the great promise of M2M a reality.”

A key feature of the agreement is the incident and troubleshooting capability that France Telecom-Orange, Deutsche Telekom and TeliaSonera will be improving to ensure the best quality of roaming services to their customers. Because machine-to-machine communication is business critical for M2M customers, all M2M roaming services will have a dedicated support component, significantly improving previous industry attempts at troubleshooting and providing much shorter repair time compared to regular procedures.

“M2M has a very large economic potential and this cooperation with three of the strongest brands in the market enhances our international offers,” said Håkan Dahlström, president of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera. “We know that the services connected to M2M communication in many cases is vital for business and put clear requirements on us as a communication operator. The cooperation will enhance a better customer experience cross border in our markets and increase quality in our offers that will support the development of M2M services,” Håkan Dahlström concludes.

Enhanced M2M interoperability will also be maintained as the three partners conduct joint testing to harmonize module standards. Module certification will enable the most optimized interoperability between module and network. This will lead to a stable module performance in all countries covered by the three groups, enabling a quicker and more optimized integration of the modules in M2M customers’ devices and machines.

“M2M communication is an enabling technology for e-Energy, e-Health, Connected Home and the Connected Car, for example, to bring about the internet of things. The M2M market has been growing exponentially lately, with potential for enterprises to drive new business, improve performance, reduce cost, and protect environment,” said Dr. Rainer Deutschmann, senior vice president Mobile Products, Deutsche Telekom. “With our growing partnership, especially multinational companies will now have a more efficient and reliable path to implement global M2M solutions.”

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 128 million mobile customers, 36 million fixed-network lines and approximately 17 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2011). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in over 50 countries and has around 244,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 62.4 billion in the 2010 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2010).

About France Telecom-Orange
France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with 170,000 employees worldwide, including 102,000 employees in France, and sales of 11.2 billion euros in the first quarter 2011. Present in 35 countries, the Group had a customer base of 215.9 million customers at 31 March 2011, including 141.6 million customers under the Orange brand, the Group’s single brand for internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. At 31 March 2011, the Group had 156.7 million mobile customers and 13.9 million broadband internet (ADSL, fibre) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies. Orange Business Services won the 2010 Frost & Sullivan Market Penetration Leadership Award for M2M Telecom Services in Europe and per Berg Insight’s Global Wireless M2M Market research report, had the highest percentage of growth in active SIMs between 2009 and 2010 among the top five European M2M communication players.

With its industrial project, “conquests 2015”, Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group’s ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE, news, filings) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.

About TeliaSonera
TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera helps people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. Our ambition is to be number one or two in all our markets, providing the best customer experience, high quality networks and cost efficient operations. TeliaSonera is also the leading European wholesale provider with a wholly-owned international carrier network. In 2010, net sales amounted to SEK 107 billion, EBITDA to SEK 37.7 billion and earnings per share to SEK 4.73. The TeliaSonera share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.teliasonera.com

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