Orange Wholesale is strengthening its infrastructure while advancing network softwarization and cloudification - responsibly. Leading stakeholders from within Orange Wholesale tell us how the internal innovation value chain is shifting towards a digital, sustainable and collaborative model, setting new standards for the global telecom wholesale industry.
Since Michael Trabbia assumed leadership of Orange Wholesale, the wholesaler has undergone an innovation-centered transformation. As he pointed, there are two new priorities in the telco industry: AI and softwarization. This strategy places digital mutation at the heart of Orange Wholesale’s operations – for the benefit of the customer and the planet.
For Idir Fodil, VP Strategy and Performance at Orange Wholesale Network Infrastructures and Services Direction, Orange Wholesale has already fully embraced this softwarization trend, where “we are increasingly migrating our network functions and services to the Telco Cloud”. This has become possible as “we have heavily invested in the disaggregation of our networks with an open model based on white-label hardware and open-source software that we customize", adding APIs by design for NaaS (Network as a Service) to enable on-demand services for customers.
For Geoffroy Stern, Head of Strategic Marketing at Orange Wholesale International. “the adoption of AI-driven analytics tools empowers Orange Wholesale to optimize network performance and define for our customers a value-added discourse and propositions. Predictive maintenance powered by AI has minimized downtime, enhancing reliability for customers”.
All this softwarization drive and our dedication to customer-centric innovation is best illustrated by Click, Orange Wholesale’s Naas Platform and digital customer interface. Reflecting the digitalization of our networks into a new customer interface with a host of user-friendly features, it goes beyond care functions to empower the least tech savvy users to achieve more. For Jean Marc Barraqué, Head of Digital Transformation at Orange Wholesale International, “Click, Orange Wholesale’s Network-as-a-Service value proposition is a showcase of several innovation pathways undertaken within the organization, dealing with both network facilities, software and internal processes. And as Click was always designed to be a future-proof platform, it regularly welcomes new feature and services requested by our customers and partners. As part of this development plan, 2025 will see the introduction of innovations on both data and mobile services”.
Sustainability has become a cornerstone of Orange Wholesale’s innovation strategy as well. The fact that all new products are scheduled to be eco-designed, with measured environmental impact, speaks volumes about how just any innovation at Orange Wholesale simple has to be environmentally responsible. Also, Orange Wholesale has invested heavily in energy-efficient technologies, such as green data centers and low-power networking equipment. Partnerships with innovative start-up companies Quanteec and Ethernetics, among others, are testimonial of the integration of this topic in our DNA. As Agnès Pégorier, Sustainable Marketing Manager explains “ESG is a true part of our value proposal. We are able to help our clients to reduce their carbon footprint and to monetize our assets”. Detailed carbon footprint assessments of our solutions stand for “a differentiating advantage over our competitors in a market where players are increasingly stringent in terms of greenhouse gas emissions when it comes to ink partnerships”.
Through all these initiatives, Orange Wholesale is embarked in strengthened alliances with technology providers, startups, and academic institutions to foster a culture of co-innovation. One notable example is the establishment of open innovation platforms that bring together stakeholders to address common industry challenges. These platforms facilitate knowledge sharing and accelerate the development of groundbreaking solutions. Collaborations with cloud service providers have enabled the seamless integration of edge computing capabilities into Orange Wholesale’s offerings, enhancing latency-sensitive applications such as IoT and real-time analytics.
Orange Wholesale is also betting on partnerships with regional operators to expand its reach in emerging markets and develop innovation that benefits the whole industry. By leveraging local expertise and infrastructure, in Africa, in the Middle-East, in Europe and beyond, we have been able to provide affordable and scalable solutions tailored to the unique needs of these regions.
With digital transformation, sustainability, collaboration, and customer-centricity forming the pillars of Orange Wholesale’s innovation strategy, the global connectivity provider is well-positioned to navigate the complexities of the modern telecommunications landscape.
