[Ben]

Wanadoo brand to be scrapped

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/29/wanadoo_orange_rebrand/


The name Wanadoo is to be consigned to the scrap heap as part of yet another rebranding exercise at the ISP formerly know as Freeserve.

Next year Wanadoo will ditch its logo and rebrand under the Orange livery as part of a "simplified brand architecture" announced by parent France Telecom today.

The name change comes a little over a year after FT decided to ditch the name Freeserve - its ISP in the UK - and replace it with Wanadoo.

For FT, it means that the mobile phone outfit will become the umbrella brand for all mobile, broadband and other converged telecoms services.

As services continue to converge, it means that punters will be able to get their mobile, broadband, video-on-demand and fixed line services all from the same company charged on the same bill.

For customers in the UK, it's yet more confusion as the ISP takes on yet another identity.

The UK is first in line for the makeover which should take place in 2006. Said FT in a statement today: "Over the next 18 months, Orange should become the Group's international commercial brand for mobile, broadband and multiplay offerings, as well as for all Enterprise businesses. The company's name remains unchanged."

A spokeswoman for Orange confirmed the name change, telling us: "The Wanadoo name is to be replaced by Orange. Orange will become group's brand for broadband, mobile and multiplay.

While a spokesman for Wanadoo UK, which used to be known as Freeserve but will now be Orange, added: "A single, integrated brand strategy will enable the company to compete more effectively against our competitors. It will help to accelerate the momentum of the FT Group's ambition to become the leader in convergence. We will have a single brand with global clout."
So what do you think? Personally I think this is the start of a very slippery slope, but there are some interesting convergence opportunities.

[Ben]

Oo, more information for y'all:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/29/wanadoo_orange_international/


France Telecom is to spend €200m changing the name of its Wanadoo ISP to Orange - the brightly-coloured name of its mobile phone operation.

Details of the corporate make-over were released today as FT gave more detail about its massive rebranding exercise.

The UK is set to be the first country to get a new lick of paint even though the business only went through a rebranding last year when the ISP's name was changed from Freeserve to Wanadoo.

From next year it will be known as Orange, followed by Wanadoo's other ISP operations in countries including Spain and the Netherlands .

The axing of the Wanadoo brand comes as FT announced the introduction of a "whole new world of services in the areas of communication, infotainment and everyday life".

Among the new products to be introduced in France before being rolled out to other countries is a fixed line and mobile combo aimed at families for €39 a month and a broadband telephone that tells punters when they receive emails.

FT also plans to offer a remote surveillance system for the home that works using a mobile or a computer.

The ambitious proposals form part of FT's NExT (New Experience in Telecom services) proposals which it claims will "give customers access to a universe of services that are both high value and simple".

"The programme will also enable the group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator, supported by its renewed model for profitable growth," said FT in a statement.

[3GScottishUser]

Seems to make sense. Orange Broadband.... why not? I expect Vodafone might enter the market too as they have a tie-up with BT for mobile services.

The day is too far off when one company could provide all of your fixed and mobile data billing. That could be worthwhile.

[Jon3G]

I used to do some contracting work for Wanadoo last year and none of their decisions made any sense, but this one does

Well done Wanadoo

[Ben]

Freeserve/Wanadoo have never offered a particularly fantastic service though. I guess for the Wanadoo side of things it'll give them a much needed boost - inheriting Orange's reputation for customer service when the reality at Wanadoo is very different. The quality of the product also doesn't excel itself against the competition.

Also, what does this spell for Orange.co.uk? It's a fantastic website, the best by any mobop in the UK by a mile, and it's surely soon to be raped with telephone, broadband and various other services for the Wanadoo side of things.

If billing is to be converged, an extent of customer services will also have to be sewn together in order to cope with queries relating to both aspects of the business. Perhaps this even creates an ideal opportunity for outsourcing to India?

Could the resulting single-branded operation become so big and unwieldy that it can no longer provide the level of service that is expected from the mobop at least? Could the resulting ISP/mobop cause problems for the other operators who don't happen to have their own large ISP knocking around?

I think the move asks a lot more questions than it answers.

Edit: And here (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/74608/wanadoo-wants-to-become-orange.html) there appear to be a few answers. Next year Orange will launch a combined portal (look at http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/ and tell me if you think it's a good idea now!) and combine its customer services operations. It's also looking into buying Cable and Wireless (including Bulldog). Crikey.

[Jon3G]

Freeserve/Wanadoo have never offered a particularly fantastic service though. I guess for the Wanadoo side of things it'll give them a much needed boost - inheriting Orange's reputation for customer service when the reality at Wanadoo is very different. The quality of the product also doesn't excel itself against the competition.

Also, what does this spell for Orange.co.uk? It's a fantastic website, the best by any mobop in the UK by a mile, and it's surely soon to be raped with telephone, broadband and various other services for the Wanadoo side of things.

If billing is to be converged, an extent of customer services will also have to be sewn together in order to cope with queries relating to both aspects of the business. Perhaps this even creates an ideal opportunity for outsourcing to India?

Could the resulting single-branded operation become so big and unwieldy that it can no longer provide the level of service that is expected from the mobop at least? Could the resulting ISP/mobop cause problems for the other operators who don't happen to have their own large ISP knocking around?

I think the move asks a lot more questions than it answers.

Edit: And here (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/74608/wanadoo-wants-to-become-orange.html) there appear to be a few answers. Next year Orange will launch a combined portal (look at http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/ and tell me if you think it's a good idea now!) and combine its customer services operations. It's also looking into buying Cable and Wireless (including Bulldog). Crikey.

I disagree with the service in terms of speed and price for Wanadoo, the speed is always very good and so is the price. Wanadoo were the first to offer 1mb at 17.99 and the services Wanadoo offer are ok

However what is more worrying about this is that Wanadoo have just moved most of the CS to india and this is the project I helped them with. Is this the same direction for Orange because I can rememeber in another forum an Orange staff member saying that india were taking overflow pay and go enquiries. However I dont think they will connect the tech teams together, it may be just the customer service operation that may be generic, but this will be a massive job, It took me nine months just to transfer tech CS from Sheffield to Mumbia in india and get that up to speed

mmm

[Hands0n]

The convergence is late and inevitable in my 'umble opinion. I reckon that this is the way things will have to go if the mobops are to provide complete competition to the landline operators such as BT, Telewest and NTL in terms of full packages. With a broad service offering and the potential to level telephony prices with landline there could be a signal for the [near] demise of [at least domestic] the landline! Not entirely unthinkable these days, perhaps.

Reading of T-Mobile's walk n'web this development for Wanadoo/Orange sounds like good timing on their behalf - if they package the mobile access part of it right.

Everyone has been looking for 3G's "killer app" and maybe they've been looking in the wrong place. Perhaps it has been there all along ............ The Internet, properly packaged for the mobile world.

My only "fear" is reading of the transfer of parts of the CS to Mumbai - a Customer experience with another mobop that I have not enjoyed one little bit and a key reason why I plan to move on at the contract end.

I wonder how the remaining big three will respond.