Orange's FMC service wins 100,000 users

France Telecom’s mobile division, Orange has sold almost 100,000 Unik FMC devices since the platform launched in September.

On Tuesday, the firm revealed that it had shifted 64,000 units by year end 2006 and another 36,000 in the two months since.

Orange’s fortunes so far seem very different to those of BT, the company which first launched FMC services in Europe under the guise of Fusion and struggled to sign up customers.

But Ovum analyst Vincent Poulbere notes that it is an encouraging start for an FMC service, “it is nothing to get too excited about.”

Poulbere said: “It is positive news considering that Orange only has three compatible handsets in its line-up, which limits customer adoption. Orange has got it right because it has put a lot of effort into explaining its offering to customers and into making the service easy to use.”

But the analyst believes that at around 18,000 new subs per month, the acquisition rate is quite low, especially considering Orange’s intensive marketing efforts.

Orange is now rolling out Unik in Spain, the UK and the Netherlands.