France Télécom, which has traded as ‘Orange’ within France and abroad for several years, is formally changing the company name to Orange on 1st July 2013. The decision was taken at the shareholders’ AGM today.

Originally a French government department, France Telecom became a separate business in 1990 and was later privatised.

Last year the European Commission requested information from Deutsche Telecom, France Télécom, Telefónica, Vodafone and Telecom Italia as well as from the GSMA.

It was concerned that standards for future mobile communications services shouldn’t be used by mobile operators as part of a strategy to close other companies down.

France Telecom-Orange has formed a global strategic partnership with mobile security company Lookout.

From early next year, Orange customers in France, Slovakia, Spain and the UK - along with EE and T-Mobile customers in the UK - will have the Lookout Mobile Security application installed as standard on selected new Android devices. The software will help consumers protect their smartphones against malware, data loss, privacy threats and loss or theft.

Everything Everywhere, which runs the UK networks of T-Mobile and Orange, has announced its financial results for the final quarter and full year of 2011.

It says service revenue was up 2.1% if the effects of Mobile Termination Rate cuts are ignored - or down 2.1% when the impact of MTR cuts is included.

Orange Austria is to be sold to Hutchison 3G Austria, subject to regulatory approval.

France Telecom-Orange currently owns 35% of the business, while Mid Europa Partners controls 65%. Both parties have agreed to sell their combined stakes to Hutchison.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

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This week the team debates "is the new Carphone Warehouse upgrade policy good news for the industry?" and reviews the Alcatel OT C-825 & Map24 Mobile software, as well as bringing you commentary on all the latest news.