Orange Extends its Comprehensive Set of Care Services - Orange Care - by Bringing 'Expert Assistance' for Smartphone Customers in-Store Following Hot-Line Success

BARCELONA, February 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Orange is extending the reach of its Expert Assistance programme, a paid-for service giving smartphone customers access to technical advice and guidance, beyond phone and internet hotlines to the high street. 3,000 specialist in-store Experts will provide face-to-face and personalised support to smartphone customers in 1,300 shops, across 13 countries by the end of H1 2011. Details include:

    - 3,000 specially trained customer service representatives will offer
      guidance and support across handsets and operating systems in shops
      across the European footprint
    - 300 shops will create "Care Corners", specific areas dedicated to
      smart-care services where customers can get paid-for specialist
      smartphone support.
    - Expert Assistance currently supports the most popular operating systems
      including Android, Symbian, Apple, RIM, and Windows Phone 7
    - 'Get Started with Smartphone' - whereby Orange retail staff help
      customers set up their phones for their use - will be available across
      13 countries by the end of H1 2011
    - 'Copy & Keep' service - a data and content back-up solution that allows
      phone-to-phone content transfer or storage now in 1,300 Orange shops in
      13 countries - up 30% since Q1 2010.
    - Orange aims to serve more than one million Orange Care customers in
      store in 2011

Expert Assistance launched commercially in June 2010; the expansion of the service into retail spaces, less than one-year after the innovative hotline service was deployed, demonstrates Orange's success in offering market-leading care services that assist the customer through the whole device lifecycle. In the six months since its June launch, 100,000 customers used the hotline service, and call volumes have risen by 10 per cent each month.

Philippe Bernard, Executive Vice President, Sales and Care, comments: "Orange Care is the most comprehensive set of care services available on the market today. We believe it is truly innovative and differentiating us to customers in the market. The success of the Expert Assistance hotline to date indicate that we are on the right the track but our expectation is that revenues from our point of sale Expert Assistance will exceed Internet and Smartphone Expert Assistance Hotline revenues in 2011."

Orange Care is a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio of services that looks after the customer throughout their lifetime with Orange - covering Expert Assistance, Security, VIP services and Recycle and Reward.

Orange secured three million monthly subscribers to Orange Care by the end of 2010 - its first year of operation - and expects to achieve 10 million customers overall by the end of 2011.

About Orange: http://www.orange.com, http://www.francetelecom.com, http://www.orange-business.com

SOURCE Orange