Orange deputy CEO Mari-Noelle Jego-Laveissiere (pictured) used a London media event today to highlight convergence of fixed and mobile services as the cornerstone of the operator group’s strategy for growth in Europe, describing the combined offering as the answer to growing customer needs for connectivity.

Jego-Laveissiere, who is head of the group’s activities in Europe, spoke on the company’s Engage 2025 strategy and explained convergence was the real growth driver in each of the company’s seven operations on the continent.

She claimed Orange was the leader in convergence in Europe today despite competition being “really fast”, and the company has more than 20 million FTTH connected households, three to five times more than its competitors.

It also has nearly eight million fixed broadband customers in Europe, with more than half connected via fibre.

“Convergence can really enable us to answer customer needs and these needs are growing after the [Covid 19] crisis”, the Orange executive explained.

She said converged services also help the company to protect its mobile customer base, reduce churn and increase the average revenue per customer.

Naturally, sustainability from an economic and societal point of view was highlighted as a major focus for the group, citing an effort to become carbon neutral by 2040 and an intention to facilitate digital inclusion.

“We aim to be the most sustainable telco in Europe,” she affirmed.

5G use cases
Jego-Laveissiere noted the operator has launched 5G in five countries across Europe, managed to secure the highest amounts of 5G spectrum in Spain, and is waiting for auctions in Poland and Belgium.

“5G will enable us to deal with this traffic in a much more efficient way,” she claimed, and will create new use cases, especially in B2B markets, including the development of smart cities and in the automotive industry; two markets tipped to help the operator monetise 5G.

And on the subject of B2B,  Jego-Laveissiere is targeting growth in the segment which currently represents about 22 per cent of group total revenue in Europe.