Orange joined a French government-backed research and development project bringing together national players to set up a contact tracing application, as part of the country’s fight against the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

In a statement, Orange said it will team with eight public and private companies, including Nokia’s former health division Withings, to form the government’s “StopCovid” project, to develop and deliver the application.

Each of the nine companies will be tasked with providing support based on their field of expertise, with Orange responsible for application distribution and interoperability.

Stephane Richard, chairman and CEO at Orange, said the app was designed to break “the chain of contamination as restrictions are lifted”.

“Orange will contribute its know-how in the security of networks and digital systems, its expertise in the mobile telecommunications ecosystem as well as its close relationship with healthcare institutions in order to help reach these ambitious targets.”

Foundations
The government said the app will be built on five foundations, including using the tool as part of a global strategy for managing the crisis and epidemiological monitoring; strict compliance with data protection and privacy frameworks at national and European levels; ensuring transparency of the data gathered; and assurances over the temporary nature of the project.

Use of smartphones in contact tracing has proved a hot topic globally in the fight against the pandemic, with a number of nations working on applications to help monitor the outbreak. In Europe, there have been calls for the development of a single app across the European Union, in line with privacy regulations.

At European level, Orange confirmed the project will be carried out in close cooperation with national teams developing comparable apps in Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and Norway.