Orange Group reshuffles senior management and reveals 5 year strategy

Mobile telco Orange has defined its plans for the next five years in a manifesto it has dubbed Essentials2020, with an emphasis on expansion in Africa, the Middle East and Spain and the mobile financial services vertical market.

Changes in personnel to underpin its company re-structure take effect from the first of March 2016. Thierry Bonhomme will become Orange’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer in recognition of his steering of Orange Business Services (OBS) which, Orange claims, has become a trusted digital transformation partner for enterprise customers. Bonhomme will rank alongside Ramon Fernandez, Chief Financial & Strategy Officer, who is also Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Orange Group.

Marc Rennard, formerly leader of development for Orange in Africa and the Middle East, is to be the new Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of customer experience and mobile financial services. Rennard, who previously rolled out the Orange Money programme, is to use the experience gained to run mobile financial services, which has been identified by Orange, in its Essentials2020 plan, as a key target area of diversification.

Bruno Mettling, credited with the Orange group’s transformation, is to be appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of operations in Africa and the Middle East (AMEA). Jean-Marc Vignolles, who has headed Orange Spain since 2007, will be the region’s Chief Operating Officer.

Africa and the Middle East is a target growth area for Orange, which announced the creation of a holding company to unify operations across AMEA. Orange will also open offices in four new countries in the region.

The new CEO for Orange Spain is to be Laurent Paillassot, as the telco bids to build on its acquisition of Jazztel to become the most dynamic convergent player in the Spanish market, it says. Orange Spain now creates over 10 per cent of the group’s revenues.

“I wanted the coming months to be devoted to the preparation and organisation of this transition, so that it can take place in an efficient and coherent manner, and so that the new organisation will be fully operational from day one,” said CEO and chairman Stéphane Richard.