French communications giant Orange has teamed up with marketing and media specialist Havas Media to create a new Los Angeles-based research and business development centre called SiliWood.

It’ll look at opportunities and innovation with a particular focus on media, content, technology and data science.

Ofcom’s quarterly report of complaints against major UK telecoms and pay TV providers shows an overall drop between April and June 2013, mainly due to a fall in the number of landline and broadband complaints.

It’s the regulator’s tenth quarterly report.

Mark Bridge writes:

Another week, another couple of product announcements from Samsung. There appears to be no stopping them, despite a recent drop in the company’s share price.

This time it’s a couple of tablets – one of which runs both Android and Windows 8 – and a 20 megapixel camera that’s got a 4G-enabled Android device built in.

Orange Group’s Board of Directors has issued a statement reasserting its full confidence in CEO Stéphane Richard, who was placed under formal investigation for fraud last week.

The investigation relates to Mr Richard’s previous role working for the French government; it’s been alleged he was involved in agreeing a €285 million arbitration payment to businessman Bernard Tapie that was inappropriately high.

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.