OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Orange

Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications providers with 298 million customers in 26 countries, operating fixed and mobile networks across Europe.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Guillaume De La Brosse (Head of Unit Defence Industry and Space)

20 Jan 2026 · Orange’s potential support to EU defence priorities and opportunities for collaboration

Meeting with Lucilla Sioli (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

8 Jan 2026 · Artificial intelligence (GPAI and Agentic AI)

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament) and Fédération bancaire française and

25 Nov 2025 · Défis européens des grandes entreprises françaises

Meeting with Beatriz Yordi (Director Climate Action)

24 Oct 2025 · Discussion on "Port of call" definition

Meeting with Ariane Labat (Head of Unit Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

20 Oct 2025 · Via Africa Submarine Cable and Global Gateway Investment Hub

Orange urges EU to simplify digital regulations and delay AI rules

14 Oct 2025
Topic — EU review of multiple digital regulations to reduce compliance burden on businesses.
Message — Orange calls for postponing high-risk AI implementation until standards are ready, repealing metadata rules in ePrivacy Directive, clarifying Data Act scope for telecom devices, and streamlining cybersecurity reporting across NIS2, CER, CRA and DORA. They request single national contact points and harmonized reporting requirements.1234
Why — This would reduce compliance costs and allow Orange to handle data under same rules as big tech competitors.56
Read full response

Meeting with Hildegard Bentele (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

24 Sept 2025 · Global Gateway

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Sept 2025 · Politique numérique européenne

Meeting with Pablo Arias Echeverría (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Sept 2025 · key challenges concerning connectivity in Europe including AI, satellites, Cybersecurity, investment, and scale ahead of the future legislative proposal on the Digital Networks Act

Meeting with Borys Budka (Member of the European Parliament, Committee chair)

22 Sept 2025 · Connectivity in Europe including AI, satellites, Cybersecurity, investment, and scale

Meeting with Chiara Galiffa (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič) and Airbus and

18 Sept 2025 · US and EU-China relations, trade agreements, economic security and trade defence measures, upcoming EU initiatives

Meeting with Aurore Lalucq (Member of the European Parliament, Committee chair) and The European Digital Payments Industry Alliance

18 Sept 2025 · PSR/PSD

Meeting with Ioan-Dragos Tudorache (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné) and Airbus and

18 Sept 2025 · US and EU-China relations, trade agreements, economic security and trade defence measures, upcoming EU initiatives

Meeting with Lucilla Sioli (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

17 Sept 2025 · Artificial intelligence (GPAI and Agentic AI)

Meeting with Silke Dalton (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen)

17 Sept 2025 · DNA

Meeting with Beatriz Yordi (Director Climate Action)

8 Sept 2025 · ETS maritime/Offshore

Meeting with Stéphane Séjourné (Executive Vice-President) and

5 Sept 2025 · - Compétitivité des entreprises - Marché intérieur - Protection de la souveraineté et du pouvoir d’achat - Relation US/EU

Meeting with Thibaut Kleiner (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

4 Sept 2025 · Future connectivity trends

Orange urges Commission to overhaul outdated EU merger guidelines

3 Sept 2025
Topic — The European Commission is updating its merger guidelines to reflect modern economic and technological realities.
Message — Orange requests a shift toward a sector-aware approach prioritizing long-term investment over price. They call for balanced evaluations where efficiencies and competitive harms are judged equally.12
Why — This would allow Orange to merge more easily to achieve scale necessary for sustainable investment.3
Impact — Proponents of low-price competition lose as the framework moves away from prioritizing market fragmentation.4
Read full response

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Commissioner Jessika Roswall) and TotalEnergies SE and

22 Jul 2025 · EU environmental policies

Response to Revision of the Standardisation Regulation

18 Jul 2025

As a longstanding contributor to European and international standardisation, Orange remains committed to supporting innovation, interoperability, and competitiveness through its active participation in key bodies such as ETSI, 3GPP, and ITU. We welcome the objectives behind the revision of the Standardisation Regulation but emphasise that the current European Standardisation System already operates effectively, and is open, transparent, inclusive, and market-driven. Any regulatory changes should avoid excessive prescription and must be clearly justified by demonstrable benefits. Accelerating the standardization process: Orange supports efforts to accelerate the full standardisation lifecycle from the initiation of Standardisation Requests to citation in the Official Journal of the EU. To streamline timelines, greater involvement of European Standardisation Organisations, industry, and stakeholders in the early phases, as well as EC expert participation during standard development, can improve legal alignment and expedite approvals. However, speed must not compromise inclusiveness or industry consensus, both of which are essential for adoption and market relevance. While Common Specifications (CS) may serve as a fallback, they risk lower stakeholder acceptance and should not replace the market-driven ESO-led process. If CS are used, their development must uphold the same principles of openness, transparency, and inclusivity. Resources would be more effectively directed towards participation in existing standardisation frameworks, for example through initiatives like the proposed JASTE office for developing contributions. Enhancing inclusiveness and stakeholder tepresentation A truly inclusive system requires not just open processes but also adequate resources to enable broad participation. While ESOs and ETSI in particular allow direct involvement from SMEs and academia, many lack the funding and expertise to contribute effectively. Targeted support and capacity-building measures are necessary to ensure balanced stakeholder input. Ensuring coherence with Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) A consistent approach between standardisation and SEP policy is critical for supporting EU innovation and technological autonomy. The proposed SEP regulation has faced significant resistance from the standardisation community, and the European Commission is now expected to withdraw it. This situation highlights the importance of aligning policy initiatives with the realities of standardisation, particularly as SEPs often emerge from cutting-edge technology standards. A coherent strategy must facilitate industry and academic engagement by removing administrative burdens and aligning with broader initiatives like the Competitive Compass. These efforts should aim to build a resilient, efficient, and inclusive standardisation ecosystem. The strategic role of ETSI ETSI stands out as a cornerstone of European and global standardisation, with over 900 members across 60 countries. Its expertise is instrumental in developing standards that not only serve global markets but also reinforce EU digital policies and strategic interests. Leveraging ETSI's capabilities will be crucial in achieving Europes goals in innovation, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy.
Read full response

Orange calls for bold deregulation and spectrum license reform

10 Jul 2025
Topic — This consultation addresses European digital infrastructure needs for cloud and artificial intelligence.
Message — Orange requests deregulation by default for broadband networks and license terms of at least 40 years. They also want large content providers forced to negotiate for network interconnection services.123
Why — The proposals would provide long-term investment security while significantly lowering their regulatory compliance costs.45
Impact — Large tech firms would face new costs, and consumers could see reduced protections.67
Read full response

Meeting with Arthur Corbin (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné) and TotalEnergies SE and

10 Jul 2025 · Clean industrial deal Financement Simplification

Meeting with François Kalfon (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Jul 2025 · Réseaux et télécommunications

Meeting with Lucrezia Busa (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and Telefonica, S.A. and

27 Jun 2025 · Implementation details of the inclusion of Ukraine into the EU Roam Like at Home (the ‘EU RLAH’) area

Meeting with Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea (Director Environment)

26 Jun 2025 · Circular economy in the ICT sector

Orange urges EU to simplify overlapping cybersecurity regulations

19 Jun 2025
Topic — Review of the EU Cybersecurity Act covering ENISA's mandate and certification framework.
Message — Orange requests a more cohesive regulatory framework to eliminate redundant requirements across various cybersecurity laws. They propose a single-entry point for incident reporting and a mandate for ENISA to regulate non-EU cyber rating agencies.123
Why — Streamlining these rules would lower administrative costs and let staff focus on fixing security issues.4
Impact — Foreign cyber rating agencies would lose their current freedom to rate firms without European oversight.5
Read full response

Meeting with Adina Vălean (Member of the European Parliament)

21 May 2025 · ICT circular economy

Meeting with Renate Nikolay (Deputy Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

24 Apr 2025 · Exchange of views on the upcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA), the review of the Romanian wholesale broadband market, and the status of Roaming for Ukraine and Moldova

Meeting with Sanna Laaksonen (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen), Xavier Coget (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen)

9 Apr 2025 · Cable Security

Meeting with Gerasimos Sofianatos (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

7 Apr 2025 · The future of the EU Harmonised 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Service Frequency Band The future use of the Upper 6 GHz frequency band

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

3 Apr 2025 · Presentation of Orange Marine activities, in relation to the recently adopted Action Plan on the security of submarine cables

Meeting with Pierre Jouvet (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Apr 2025 · enjeux numériques

Meeting with Arthur Corbin (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné), Vincent Hurkens (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné) and

1 Apr 2025 · Simplification of sustainability reporting

Meeting with Arthur Corbin (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné), Bertrand L'Huillier (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné) and

13 Mar 2025 · Clean Industrial Deal Simplification Trade

Meeting with Aleksandar Nikolic (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and FRANCE CYBER MARITIME

12 Mar 2025 · INI souveraineté technologique européenne et les infrastructures numériques

Meeting with Grégory Allione (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Mar 2025 · Réunion Orange

Meeting with Michał Kobosko (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Mar 2025 · Challenges of the digital ecosystem

Meeting with Renate Nikolay (Deputy Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

5 Mar 2025 · Commission priorities in technology policy

Meeting with Lucrezia Busa (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

5 Mar 2025 · Update on the process of the possible inclusion of Ukraine into the EU Roam Like at Home (the ‘EU RLAH’) area

Meeting with Jörgen Warborn (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

3 Mar 2025 · Digital infrastructure

Meeting with Polona Gregorin (Head of Unit Climate Action) and European Community Shipowners' Associations and Armateurs de France

12 Feb 2025 · Discussion on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) extension to maritime and the situation of cable-layers vessels

Orange urges EU to unify fragmented telecom single market

31 Jan 2025
Topic — The European Commission initiative to revitalize the single market for goods and services.
Message — Orange requests to streamline non-financial reporting and strengthen trade secrets to protect strategic information. They advocate for harmonizing legislation to facilitate consolidation and domestic scale. They also seek to simplify regulations for transferring used equipment across borders.123
Why — These measures would lower operational costs and facilitate the scale needed for infrastructure investments.4
Impact — Global competitors lose the advantage of accessing sensitive data published under current reporting rules.5
Read full response

Meeting with Lucrezia Busa (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and BOUYGUES EUROPE and

31 Jan 2025 · Meeting organized by ARCEP with local authorities and operators on fiber (FTTH) network infrastructure in France. Operators took part only to some part of the meetings.

Meeting with Pierre Jouvet (Member of the European Parliament) and RENAULT and

22 Jan 2025 · Dîner des grandes entreprises

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament) and Airbus and

21 Jan 2025 · Politique économique européenne

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament) and Airbus and

21 Jan 2025 · Défis européens des grandes entreprises françaises

Meeting with Andrea Wechsler (Member of the European Parliament) and Fastned BV

21 Jan 2025 · EU Energy and industry policy

Meeting with Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (Executive Vice-President) and

14 Jan 2025 · To hear interest representatives’ view on EU competition and telecom policy, and perspectives on clean, just, and competitive transition policies.

Meeting with Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-President) and Telefonica, S.A. and

12 Dec 2024 · Current market developments and views on the future of the sector.

Meeting with François Kalfon (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Oct 2024 · Télécommunications

Meeting with Aura Salla (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Oct 2024 · The future of the telecom sector and the challenges in the digital environment

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Oct 2024 · Télécommunication, infrastructures de communication et services numériques

Meeting with Borys Budka (Member of the European Parliament, Committee chair)

23 Oct 2024 · ICT regulations

Meeting with Kerstin Jorna (Director-General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and Siemens AG and

8 Oct 2024 · General discussion on Taxonomy and CSRD deployment.

Meeting with Gerassimos Thomas (Director-General Taxation and Customs Union) and Airbus and

9 Sept 2024 · Physical meeting - Exchange on EU Taxation and Customs policy priorities

Meeting with Magda Kopczynska (Director-General Mobility and Transport) and Airbus and

15 Jul 2024 · Transport and mobility priorities / Funding / Decarbonization solutions

Meeting with Mairead McGuinness (Commissioner) and Siemens AG and

26 Jun 2024 · Sustainability policies, in particular CSRD, Taxonomy

Orange Urges EU Merger Rule Reform for Telecom Consolidation

25 Jun 2024
Topic — European Commission consultation on scenarios to modernize and secure Europe's digital infrastructure.
Message — Orange requests revised merger policies to allow national consolidation and increased scale. They also propose deregulating fiber access and harmonizing long-term spectrum licenses.12
Why — Consolidating markets would create synergies and improve the company's financial attractiveness to investors.3
Impact — Large content providers would be forced to pay fees for their network traffic.4
Read full response

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

26 Feb 2024 · Brief exchange on the margin of a speech on Telecom policy

Meeting with Marion Walsmann (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

16 Feb 2024 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (Member of the European Parliament)

15 Feb 2024 · Brevets essentiels

Meeting with Pierre Karleskind (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Feb 2024 · Standard Essential Patents

Response to Reporting scheme for data centres in Europe

12 Jan 2024

EED Article 12 requires the first reporting by owners and operators by May 1, 2024. The delegated act only mentions that colocation and cohosting data centers data must be communicated to Member States by May 15, 2026. If this means enterprise data centers still must report by May 2024, with delegated act formal adoption still some time away (approximately March/April), this is not sufficient time for companies to prepare. Moreover, there is no database yet, and no processes have been developed at the Member State level. Therefore, we ask for a transitional regime for enterprise data centers, allowing data centre operators to do their first-year reporting (2024) against the specifications set in Annex VII of the EED, and aim for delegated act reporting obligations starting in 2025. We also provided enclosed our additional comments.
Read full response

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

9 Jan 2024 · Déploiement réseaux hauts débits

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament) and Telefonica, S.A. and Deutsche Telekom

29 Nov 2023 · Future of connectivity

Meeting with Tiemo Wölken (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

27 Nov 2023 · Standard Essential Patents Regulation (staff level)

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

22 Nov 2023 · Green Claims

Meeting with Geoffroy Didier (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Nov 2023 · SEP

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

10 Nov 2023 · Telecoms

Meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe (Director-General Climate Action) and Airbus and

24 Oct 2023 · Cercle des Grandes Entreprises françaises

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Jul 2023 · Gigabit Infrastructure Act

Meeting with Sylvie Guillaume (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Jul 2023 · Règlement CSAM

Meeting with Aliénor Margerit (Cabinet of Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni), Fabrizio Balassone (Cabinet of Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni) and

30 Jun 2023 · Discussion on taxation and regulation of telecommunications sector

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

6 Jun 2023 · Telecom policy

Meeting with Alin Mituța (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

2 Jun 2023 · Data Act

Meeting with Max Orville (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Mar 2023 · Développement numérique et éducation en Afrique

Meeting with Koen Doens (Director-General Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

29 Mar 2023 · Digital transition in Africa and the Middle East

Meeting with Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Mar 2023 · Politiques ACP

Meeting with Olivér Várhelyi (Commissioner)

29 Mar 2023 · Digital transition in the Middle East and North Africa

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

27 Feb 2023 · Telecoms single market and space policy

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament) and Google and

26 Feb 2023 · Participant at EIF-GSMA Roundtable discussion: "‘Connecting Europe to its 2030 Digital Decade Targets’"

Meeting with Sandra Gallina (Director-General Health and Food Safety)

22 Feb 2023 · Presentation of the state of play on EHDS (European Health Data Space).

Meeting with Dominique Riquet (Member of the European Parliament)

7 Feb 2023 · Infrastructures de transport

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament) and Airbus and

17 Jan 2023 · Dossiers européens des grandes entreprises françaises

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

8 Dec 2022 · General overview of current situation of telecoms markets

Meeting with Adrián Vázquez Lázara (Member of the European Parliament)

6 Dec 2022 · Corporate merger between Orange and MasMovil

Meeting with Pablo Arias Echeverría (Member of the European Parliament) and Acento Public Affairs and GRUPO MASMOVIL

6 Dec 2022 · Merger and acquisition

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

10 Oct 2022 · The future of connectivity infrastructure

Meeting with Ibán García Del Blanco (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

4 Oct 2022 · Exchange of views on the Data Act

Meeting with Florentine Hopmeier (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen) and Airbus and

16 Sept 2022 · SOTEU, energy, RepowerEU, Recovery and Resilience Facility

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and Google and

6 Sept 2022 · meeting with the Green Digital Coalition - Main topic : state of play on sustainable digitalization

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Jul 2022 · Fair Share

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Jul 2022 · Télécoms et politique numérique

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament)

5 Jul 2022 · Echange sur Fair Share

Meeting with Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (Member of the European Parliament)

12 May 2022 · Initiatives about digitalisation

Orange warns EU against weakening standard essential patent protections

9 May 2022
Topic — The Commission is reviewing the legal framework governing standard essential patent licensing.
Message — Orange argues that patent hold-out is a real and ever-growing issue for innovators. They advocate for maintaining voluntary arbitration and rejecting a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach.12
Why — Strong enforcement ensures Orange can recover costs for its large-scale research and development investments.3
Impact — Wealthy technology companies would lose the ability to use standardized technologies without paying royalties.4
Read full response

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

3 May 2022 · Digital decade

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

8 Apr 2022 · Endorsing the Joint statement on Roaming and International calls between EU and Ukraine

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

29 Mar 2022 · Efforts to facilitate Roaming with Ukraine

Meeting with Josianne Cutajar (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

16 Feb 2022 · Digital Decade Policy Programme

Meeting with Olivier Guersent (Director-General Competition)

2 Feb 2022 · politique de concurrence sur les marchés des télécoms

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

13 Jan 2022 · Investments in telecom infrastructure

Meeting with Olivier Guersent (Director-General Competition)

15 Dec 2021 · exchange views on issues related to the Groupe Orange’s activities in the EU

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

14 Dec 2021 · EU Data strategy, European Cloud Alliance.

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton), Valère Moutarlier (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

5 Nov 2021 · Telecom policy and investments in the single market

Meeting with Mauro Raffaele Petriccione (Director-General Climate Action)

28 Sept 2021 · Fit for 55 Package and telecommunication sector

Response to Requirements for Artificial Intelligence

29 Jul 2021

Orange’s preliminary position on the Artificial Intelligence Act Orange welcomes the opportunity to comment on the European Commission’s proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act. This proposal, a first of a kind as highlighted by the EC, will have significant implications for AI ecosystems once it enters into force. And with AI being increasingly part of manufacturing, logistics and services sectors, it will have far reaching implications for EU economies. It is hence of utmost importance that the AI Act strikes a right balance between the need to ensure that AI applications implemented and used in the EU follow clear ethical principles, including strong governance and transparency rules, and the necessity to ensure that EU players thrive and innovate in the global race for AI leadership without undue burdens. Orange is committed to applying ethical principles in AI. We have been actively involved in the High Level Expert Group that crafted ethical principles to advise the Commission. Orange and Arborus have also revealed the first International Charter for inclusive AI whose aim is to ensure AI is designed, deployed and operated in a responsible and inclusive way. More recently, Orange set up a “Data and AI Ethics Council” made up of 11 independent recognized experts of the field. As a general comment, we support the risk-based approach adopted by the EC in its proposal, in line with Orange’s initial reactions to the Commission’s white paper on Artificial Intelligence . In particular, Orange considers that the prohibition of some unacceptable-risk AI as outlined in the proposal is aligned with EU values and ethical principles. In addition, Orange approves the EC’s proposal to set transparency obligations on low-risk AI that interacts with humans. There are however some significant concerns, which could put undue and possibly excessive burden on significant parts of the European AI ecosystem: - The definition of AI as currently drafted includes a number of techniques, including statistical methods, or expert systems, which have long been used in a number of IT developments without raising any specific issue. This means there is a risk that a significant part of existing digital activities would be considered as AI and have to comply with new regulation especially for high-risk, whereas this is not the core objective of the AI Act; - The requirements for high-risk AI may be costly and difficult to achieve. Record-keeping obligations might for instance represent excessive amounts of data to be stored. There is also a risk of deterring innovation in the EU since burdensome requirements could possibly hinder the development of AI activities in the EU compared to other parts of the world that have no such constraints. The EU could turn out to be an importer of innovation developed elsewhere. Orange therefore advocates that: - The AI definition should be streamlined, in order to avoid capturing standard IT systems or algorithms, and focus solely on the categories that are the most prone to ethical issues ; - The requirements should be streamlined to a principle-based approach, while specific aspects should be tackled through existing product legislation or the forthcoming revised versions of the product safety and product liability directives; - To promote innovation, the requirements should favor a fair and sustainable competition between European companies and non-EU competitors. More details are available in the attached preliminary position paper.
Read full response

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

19 Jul 2021 · Fibre deployment

Response to Revision of the EU competition rules on horizontal agreements

5 Jul 2021

Orange welcomes the European Commission (Commission) willingness to review the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (R&D and Specialization) (BER) and the Guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements (HGL). This is the right timing to ensure a full alignment between the various EU policies to support digital transformation in Europe. Indeed, in March 2021, the Commission adopted its new vision for 2030 - the Digital Decade – to foster Europe’s digitalisation. It is based on four pillars among which digital transformation of businesses and innovation as well as connectivity, with an ambitious goal to achieve Gigabit for everyone with 5G everywhere at that date. In this context, Orange regrets that the Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) does not identify as problematic certain critical subjects related to digitalisation and connectivity which Orange hoped would be tackled through the revision of HGL as they are key for the achievement of the objectives of the Digital Decade. Indeed, for the issues related to new market developments, the proposed policy options seem to concentrate mostly on data sharing and pooling. Orange welcomes the Commission’s willingness to provide guidance on this important topic however notes that this scope remains too restrictive compared to the challenges raised by the digital era. Proposed policy options notably leave behind several crucial issues related to digitalisation as detailed in Orange position paper of 12th of February 2020. Firstly, to keep up with digital era realities and challenges, Orange calls for a fluid, legally secured, and efficient framework that would encourage infrastructure investments through cooperation between operators (RAN sharing). The guidance provided in the current HGL and the existing case law are not sufficient for a self-assessment of such agreements – while they are essential for a more efficient and extensive as well as greener roll out of mobile networks, including 5G. This topic has been raised several times with the Commission where Orange and other telecommunications operators have insisted on the importance of an immediate action from the Commission to provide so much needed legal security. Orange strongly believes that the Commission shall have a more favourable stance on cooperation agreements seeking infrastructure investments. For such initiatives, there shall be a presumption as to their compatibility with Article 101 TFEU taking into account the important impact that such agreements may have for fast and robust growth of the European digital economy. To go further, for network sharing agreements normally satisfying the conditions laid down in Article 101(3) TFEU a block exemption could be envisaged. Secondly, in the context of digitalisation, it is important for operators to have more security when working together on industry-wide initiatives seeking to develop innovative products and services (application, platform, algorithms, etc.) for consumers and industry. For this, Orange believes that the reviewed HGL should establish a clear and secure framework for self-assessment. This would accelerate the creation of innovative project at European scale, help more generally European operators not to be held back compared to global digital actors and stay competitive in the digital era. Thirdly, Orange proposes to review the notice on informal guidance by providing the parties more flexibility to solicit the Commission when they need a legal certainty with regards to the assessment of their horizontal cooperation. The guidance should be issued within a reasonable timeline without burdensome processes as to information requests. To conclude, Orange truly believes that the review of the HGL is the opportunity to seize the full potential of the digital era and to help Europe to stay competitive in the context of a global digital market by supporting investment into networks and EU innovation.
Read full response

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

7 May 2021 · Cloud & Data Alliance - CEO Roundtable

Response to Initiative for reviewing and prolonging the “Roaming Regulation”

30 Apr 2021

Orange considers that while some adjustments could be introduced to the Roaming Regulation, there is no justification for additional or new type of intervention, especially regarding the wholesale caps. The Roam Like At Home has been a great success for EU citizens and has been delivered by Mobile operators under the current Regulation thanks to the efficient functioning of the wholesale market. Further caps decreases would introduce the risk to destabilize domestic markets and of further increasing the non-sustainability of the provision of RLAH. However, it is urgent to review the rules of permanent roaming, notably if the proposed caps decreased would be approved, and to refit the fair use rules which are too complex to implement. A more appropriate framework regarding abusive and abnormal consumption would give operators more flexibility without the necessity to ask for exemption. This is missing in the current proposal. Quality of services: No need for new obligations With the current level of European wholesale competition there is no incentive for an operator to prioritize quality of its own customers compared to roamers. This is also true concerning available technologies for roamers; they even tend to enjoy a better coverage than domestic users with the option to shift from one network provider to another. If the set of possible operators partners is narrowed down by strict requirements to meet a regulatory imposed quality, there would be less options available, damaging cost efficiency and competition at wholesale level. Moreover host MNO do not manage the network in visited countries and have no grasp on technical limitations faced by visited networks. Imposing to provide the same level of quality in every Member State and in every visited network is not realistic. It is however unclear which issue the draft Regulation tends to address at EU level, what the concept of quality means in the text and how it would be implemented or monitored. Thus, while Orange considers that operators shall not voluntary/artificially reduce access to the available technology, the new obligation on QoS should be removed. M2M: To be excluded from the scope of the Regulation Today, IoT and M2M-based devices and solutions may use connectivity solutions provided by mobile network operators but also provided through commercial networks based on unlicensed spectrum solutions (e.g. Sigfox, etc.) or private networks (WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee). The EC should also consider that lowering cap while keeping M2M in the scope of the regulation will render this activity less dynamic, less innovative with less price flexibility. If the proposal allows new business models to define tariffs and to negotiate permanent roaming, Orange suggests to be more consistent and exclude explicitly M2M/IoT from the scope of this regulation. Emergency services: no need for additional regulation Orange considers that there is no need for additional regulation or changes to the current Regulation. Access to emergency services (112, reverse 112) is a usual feature of standard roaming agreements and is functioning properly. The proposed measures could be quite complex to implement, even confusing (to provide localization of end-users and information about each visited country). Value added services: We appreciate the concern of the Commission on the possible fraud using VAS. The proposal of a database gathering the numbering ranges for VAS seems interesting but must be further elaborated, and assessed in detail in order to measure the operational burdens. The regulator should refrain from including prices in this database due to their volatility.
Read full response

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

10 Mar 2021 · connectivité Europe et Afrique, projet europeen de connectivité par satellites

Response to A European Health Data Space

3 Feb 2021

Orange Business Services' Health Subsidiary – Enovacom - fully agrees and supports the European Commission initiative “Digital health data and services – the European health data space”. We strongly believe that it is of paramount importance to design a European Health Data Space that respects the core European principles and values, especially on Data privacy, GDPR and equal access to healthcare innovation to promote better healthcare across the EU We strongly believe that Europe’s digital healthcare future will be built on a digitalised patient journey that requires data as its fuel. Digitalisation of Healthcare in the EU is still at early stage but the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the need to speed up in this field. Several initiatives have been launched at Member State level; we believe that the proposed EU Data Governance Act will provide a relevant canvas to manage the rules needed to share and use Health Data. We also agree with the EU views on AI and the need to ensure the right toolset are developed in compliance with the principles of the data privacy, equality and openness. As a provider of Secure Health Data Repositories (local and regional) and as a leader in interoperability in Europe, we are thrilled by this initiative and ready to provide our thoughts and expertise. Interoperability and data sharing are vital if countries are to effectively apply technology to support this, and help achieve healthcare’s Triple Aim of better care for individuals, better population health, and lower per capita costs. Despite being at different stages of development, many countries are looking at how they can digitalise the patient journey, with wider use of digital touchpoints across each person’s interaction with health services. Patient portals, remote consultations and telehealth are common elements of such an approach, which sees care delivered by a range of providers who collaborate around the needs of patients. We are absolutely convinced that using a data repository coupled with interoperability is a must for the future of health and care. For storage and access, healthcare providers can use a data repository to be the backbone for services such as a patient portal, online appointment booking, and remote consultations. The data repository can also be the foundation for integrated, collaborative care, providing authorized access to documents held by numerous organizations and care settings. Data sharing is a common challenge. Interoperability and integration engines can connect the numerous systems that have evolved from decades of sporadic investment in digital health. With connected systems, data is no longer in siloes; it can become actionable information accessible from within the patient record. As a result, interoperability helps legacy technology to deliver value with a longer useful lifespan. It also helps organizations be more flexible in their approach to new technology, as they can still share information without being tied to a single system or vendor. It is encouraging to see that interoperability and data sharing are recognised as fundamental features of Europe’s digital health future. We continue to work with healthcare providers here and across the globe to help them see the full potential of the talent and technology they possess, as we enter exciting times for digital health. We strongly believe in the European Commission initiative and are willing to be part of all of the necessary Workgroups to make this a workable reality.
Read full response

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

2 Feb 2021 · Future of telecom industry

Meeting with Thierry Breton (Commissioner) and

16 Dec 2020 · Roundtable - Cloud Alliance

Meeting with Gerassimos Thomas (Director-General Taxation and Customs Union)

6 Nov 2020 · Videoconference - Discussion on digital taxation

Response to Voice call termination rates in the EU (Eurorates)

21 Sept 2020

Orange comments - Draft Commission Delegated Act setting up termination rates - September 2020 Orange welcomes the adoption of pan-European termination rates, for mobile (MTR) and fixed (FTR), that will contribute to more harmonization, better balanced systems and will end the unsatisfactory current system based on an artificial SMP-based regulation in those markets, and an heterogeneous implementation of the 2009 recommendation on termination rates, leading to numerous comments from the EC on the basis of Art.7 notification procedure. Orange is in favor of an EU-wide symmetric regulation of the TR, and considers the introduction of such a new framework in the EECC as very positive. Regarding the Delegated Act project, Orange welcomes the proposal to introduce a 3-years glide path for the MTR and a transition period for the FTR necessary in order not to abruptly destabilize all operators, and even more those whose prices for certain services are indexed on call termination rates. About the Termination Rates retained, Orange is of the view that apart from the treatment of existing asymmetries between Member States due to different implementations of the 2009 Recommendation, no issues on the wholesale or retail markets justify a significant reduction of the TR currently used. This would be contrary to the investment objective of the Code, would put at risk the operators’ costs recovery and increase the fraud. A new major reduction sends the signal that the sector is still under a strong regulatory pressure with no visibility on future revenues and margin cuts pursuing the weakening of the general economy of the operators. Hence Orange advocates that the MTR values at the end of the glide path should be increased to a value higher than the currently envisaged 0.2 cent€/min. Such low rates, as seen for FTR, de facto increase unsolicited calls, marketing ones or fraud practices. In France there are several million of such solicitations every day. They are mainly sent to fixed lines, as FTR is about ten times lower than the MTR. With lower MTR, there are high risks of an increase of such calls to mobile networks, at the expense of customers. Again, in France, the authorities impose costly measures on operators which will need several years to be implemented to certify legitimate calls and block others. It would be neither logical nor fair that the destination operators receiving illegitimate calls on their networks should fully finance these measures. Orange reiterates its position that highlights the drawback of linking numbers and termination rates level. Some operators do not exploit mobile networks but assign mobile numbers to users and provide them with incoming calls using OTT VoIP services. In these cases, these operators, using mobile numbers to receive and terminate calls to platforms, benefit unduly from MTR prices while not bearing the same costs as mobile operators (in that case, costs are those of fixed operators). Should the EC maintain this link, it would be necessary to ask NRAs not to allocate mobile numbers to non-mobile operators. Regarding the management of value-added numbers, toll-free and premium numbers, due to the disparate situations all over Europe in the setting of such numbers (two components or not for VAS, different compensation mechanisms, etc.), Orange considers that these numbers should not be covered by the Delegated Act. This market is moreover shrinking, meaning that the cost of introducing new processes highly risks not being proportionate (modification of the offers, the Info.Syst, etc.). Finally, about the geographic scope, EU rates should only be mandatory for calls from third countries where termination rates are public and lower or equal to EU rates. The obligation should not be based on the existence of equivalent methodology principles, since and as also shown in the EU, they can generate various interpretations and very different outcomes.
Read full response

Response to European Digital Identity (EUid)

1 Sept 2020

Orange's inputs to European Commission Roadmap on eIDAS With eIDAS, the EU laid the foundations and a predictable legal framework for people, companies and public administrations to safely access services and carry out transactions online and across borders. In the context of this Revision of eIDAS Regulation – EUid initiative, digital identity is definitely a critical enabler of transactions, in a hyper-connected economy, and Orange, as a multi-service operator, welcomes an ambitious approach aiming at reinforcing & extending the effectiveness of eIDAS. Digital secure services (public: e.g. e-Government, e-Health and private sector: finance…) will be massively deployed on mobiles. This is why Orange considers Option 2 proposed in the Roadmap as key to make it a success. Option 3 is also very promising with regards to the creation of a universally accepted EUid to access online public and private services, when identification is necessary. However, service providers in public or private sector cannot so far easily deploy their secure services on mobiles. They are unable to address all smartphones, and to provide a sustainable level of security due to the lack of a favorable framework (contractual, technical…) and to the market fragmentation. There is also strong dependency on key global players, like device manufacturers or OS vendors who are deploying their own technology and tend to promote their own services. To improve this situation, Orange has initiated together with the industry the standardization of a generic structure for hosting secured services and sensitive data (attributes, credentials, attestations…) in a hardware element of the mobile. This hosting should be interoperable and accessible to all service providers from their back-end(s) via standardized interfaces and without significant dependency on specific actors. Sensitive user-based information would be safely stored in a hardware element of the mobile and in an isolated way ensuring data protection & privacy in line with the GDPR. The standardization work started in Feb. 2020 in a dedicated GSMA group gathering many key actors like device manufacturers, OS makers, chipset vendors and mobile operators worldwide. The requirements should be completed by Q3 2020 and the technical specification by Q1 2021, in close cooperation with relevant standards bodies (eg. Global Platform). This standard solution for secured services could be considered when designing Option 2, by extending the scope of eIDAS to devices. Indeed, it builds an interoperable and secured framework for the deployment of digital ID and other trust services on devices. For example, GSMA defined use cases include identity services supporting the eIDAS level substantial, as well as digitalisation of secured documents (eg. driving license on mobile). Furthermore, the availability of a EUid scheme (Option 3) on mobiles would ease and harmonize the deployment of secured applications which require user’s identification across the EU. The standardized solution for secured services could also be considered to implement this Option 3, as a way to reduce the current fragmentation. To summarise, Orange welcomes this Revision of eIDAS Regulation – EUid initiative. Especially, Options 2 and 3 will ease the deployment of secured applications on mobiles in the public and private sectors offering many advantages: - Innovation and competitiveness in public and private sector with increased trust services coverage in device environment. - Cybersecurity, with a certified security solution meeting the expectations of National and European public authorities. - Digital sovereignty, with the ability to deploy services without significant dependency on proprietary solutions. Orange would be glad to share more details about the progress on standardization for secured services on mobiles and explore synergies with the eIDAS review.
Read full response

Response to Evaluation of State Aid rules for broadband infrastructure deployment

7 Aug 2020

Orange welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to review the State aid rules for broadband infrastructure deployment. If the principles established by the State aid Broadband Guidelines are still valid, Orange believes that the Guidelines could go further to reassert and strengthen the fundamental logic following which private investment must continue to take precedence over public investment in the deployment of broadband networks. As regards infrastructure in general, the observation of the last years is an investment deficit in Europe. The more public money there is, the smaller the scope for private investors, since it is no longer profitable to invest where there is public money. The breadth of investment that makes commercial sense for a private investor becomes narrower as the public support expands. As a result, the area over which private investors can make a profit reduces and profits decrease proportionately. This mechanism necessarily leads to a decline in private investment and a weakening of European industry. This raises a real concern about the sustainability of the model in place. Nevertheless companies are ready to make the investments in infrastructure. The lever should not only be state aid, but above all well-dimensioned policies – such as the New Deal in France. It would therefore be good to do everything possible to favour and foster private investment. The principles established by the Guidelines are still valid and the main challenges encountered in the deployment of the networks come mainly from the implementation of the Guidelines by the member states. However, Orange considers that the Guidelines could address the elements described below to better encourage private investments. - The distinction between white, grey and black areas should be based by default on the geographical survey provided by Article 22 of the European Electronic Communications Code. - Should public intervention found appropriate, it should be incentivized to start in the least densely populated areas that will likely face the least interest from private sector, and thus where public intervention is the most necessary. - The adjustment of the time limit for assessing the existence of commercial investment plans (paragraph 63 of the Guidelines) should be made compulsory in order to properly assess the real agenda of private companies likely to invest. - A strict reassessment of the investment’s conditions in the framework of SGEI, in order not to valid public funding in dense areas as it has been the case in the past. - The implementation of an ex-post control process, based for example on feedbacks from market players to the European Commission, to verify whether or not the conditions attached to the granting of the state aids have been fulfilled. - The access conditions to the subsidized network must be consistent (technically and financially) with the ones defined by the regulator in the framework of the sector specific regulation, in order not to overly favour the development of specific players that do not compete in “private areas”.
Read full response

Response to Revision of the NIS Directive

10 Jul 2020

Orange Comments on the European Commission’s Initiative for reviewing the NIS Directive Orange welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive in light of current technological, market and regulatory developments and to provide an effective pan-European instrument for network security. The current NIS Directive gives Member States room for manoeuvre for example in identifying and selecting the relevant entities to reflect national specificities. At the same time, this approach increases the risk of divergent implementation of the provisions of the Directive and can potentially lead to inconsistencies in the measures adopted by Member States. This is especially important for companies that are active in several countries and that therefore have to meet the regulatory requirements of more than just one Member State. Orange shares the EC’s view concerning the need for more consistent, harmonised and efficient procedures to increase the effectiveness of the NIS Directive and contribute to achieving a secure Digital Single Market. We also agree with Commission’s assessment that the COVID 19 crisis and the resulting sudden growth in demand for internet-based solutions has emphasised even more the need for a state of the art cybersecurity at EU level. The pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges, therefore providing a robust and secure connectivity to individuals, businesses and governments has never been of greater importance. To improve the existing conditions for security of network and information systems, Orange supports the necessity for an ambitious option which would aim to achieve a higher level of harmonisation and consistency by means of more detailed and precise rules. In particular providers of software and hardware should be directly addressed to ensure a more robust and resilient protection of network and information systems. We strongly believe that streamlining processes and requirements introduced by the NIS Directive framework will greatly benefit to the internal market and reduce its fragmentation.
Read full response

Response to New competition tool

29 Jun 2020

Orange response to the European Commission Inception Impact Assessment- New Competition Tool Orange welcomes the EC initiative to question whether the current competition law is fit for the modern digital economy and presents the following observations to the proposed policy options. Orange believes that a more efficient use of existing competition tools (e.g. interim measures) would be sufficient to resolve main competition concerns across markets. Orange thus considers that Option 1 does not generate a real added value compared to the baseline scenario and without clear checks and balances there could be a risk of overregulation of the whole economy. As to the dominance test, Orange believes that it is key in a competition assessment which applies horizontally and any extension of this test should be done carefully so as not to create legal uncertainty. The dominance test has proven to be inefficient only in certain market situations due to specific characteristics of large digital platforms acting as gatekeepers and having a cross-sectorial presence. Orange thus believes that if a market-structure-based test (Options 3, 4) were to be implemented, this test should be strictly limited to identifying systemic platforms acting as gatekeepers for which the traditional dominance test is not adapted. As to limiting the scope of the NCT (Options 2, 4), it is not clear which sectors this tool would target as many markets are digitally-enabled and digitalisation will expand in the future. This approach may thus lead to insecurity for all market actors. Moreover, structural competition problems may exist in any sector where digitalisation comes to challenge traditional markets. Therefore, Orange considers that the intervention under the NCT should not be limited in scope to particular sectors. Furthermore, it is confusing to see oligopolistic markets being potentially within the scope of the NCT. These markets are not new and existing competition tools, case law and sectorial regulations have proven efficient to resolve any competition problem that they may instigate. Besides, these markets are not problematic per se. Orange thus proposes to remove these markets from the scope of the NCT and focus on problems for which the current toolbox is not sufficient, meaning situations where large platforms act as gatekeepers. Finally, some of the NCT policy options may be redundant with the parallel ex-ante platform regulation envisaged under the DSA (DSA ex-ante rules) – option 3b. Based on the above, Orange considers that there is no need to substantially modify the current competition law framework. However, as far as the digital platforms acting as gatekeepers are concerned, Orange agrees with the introduction of a tool allowing a more efficient intervention in markets where those platforms have substantially modified the market structure. Such intervention should be based on a test which is adapted to the common specificities of these actors and to the essential and unavoidable partner role they play. Such new tool should therefore solely target large digital platforms across all sectors. For the purposes of this tool and for consistency, the criteria to define large digital platforms shall be the same as for the DSA ex-ante rules (gatekeeping role, dependence of third parties, network effects, access to essential data, leveraging conglomerate, etc.). Furthermore, to avoid any overlap with ex-ante tools, the toolbox defined in the DSA ex-ante rules allowing a case-by-case assessment and imposition of tailor-made remedies for large platforms acting as gatekeepers (option 3b) should be assigned to DG COMP / competition authorities. This would allow to efficiently tackle overall structural competition issues raised in above markets, avoid contradictions and stay coherent with the competition doctrine. In addition, for the same reasons, DG COMP / competition authorities could enforce the Option 3a of the DSA ex-ante rules.
Read full response

Response to Digital Services Act package: ex ante regulatory instrument of very large online platforms acting as gatekeepers

29 Jun 2020

Orange response to the Inception Impact Assessment - DSA Package Ex ante regulatory instrument for large online platforms with significant network effects acting as gate-keepers. Orange welcomes the EC initiative to ensure that “large online platforms that benefit from significant network effects remain fair and contestable, in particular in situations where such platforms may act as gatekeepers”. Orange considers that Options 1 and 2 are not sufficient to tackle the structural competition issues raised by global digital platforms and that both options 3a and 3b should be introduced. Orange supports the adoption of a new ex ante regulatory framework for large online platforms acting as gatekeepers with a blacklist of prohibited practices (3a) with the following clarifications: Competition law tools may not always be sufficient to respond efficiently to market failures in the digital world. We therefore believe that as a complementary tool to competition law, ex-ante rules should be considered to prohibit per se certain abusive practices of large online digital platforms in view of ensuring fair competition and safeguarding innovation in the European digital single market. The introduction of blacklisted practices for large digital platforms needs a robust and targeted definition for both such platforms and forbidden practices in order to avoid spill-over effects on innovation and eviction of competitors from the market. The following criteria should allow targeting such platforms: • Gatekeeping role: as intermediaries, these platforms control the access to different markets, goods and services or to another group of users as well as shape the information that is transferred to users • Dependence of third parties: there is no real possibility to bypass the platform which creates significant imbalance when negotiating cooperation terms, and there is no possibility in a reasonable timeframe to create such an alternative • Network effects: the platform has such a large number of present and active users that it improves the value of its goods and services and creates significant barriers to entry for newcomers • Access to large volumes of data: data gives significant advantage in terms of improving the goods and services offered, by means of algorithms and data mining and offers the possibility to monetise it notably for advertising markets • Leveraging conglomerate: the platform easily enters different markets by exerting leverage from one sector of activity to another using its technical knowledge, important customer base, large volume of data and negotiation power Orange further supports the introduction of the Option 3b in parallel to Option 3a which will allow tackling efficiently the structural competition problems raised by large digital platforms and imposing tailor-made remedies where necessary and justified. However, to avoid overlap with the new competition tool and potentially contradictory outcomes, Orange believes that such case by case assessment should be assigned to DG COMP/competition authorities. This would allow centralizing the analysis; avoiding the creation of different doctrines on the same subject and staying coherent with the overall competition doctrine (see also Orange response to the NCT Inception Impact Assessment). Finally, for the same reasons, another option to consider would be to empower DG COMP to intervene both ex ante and ex post to efficiently tackle overall structural competition issues raised in markets where large digital platforms act as gatekeepers. In this scenario, Orange is in favour of a scheme where DG COMP would also enforce the Option 3a.
Read full response

Response to Digital Services Act: deepening the Internal Market and clarifying responsibilities for digital services

29 Jun 2020

Orange response to the EC Inception Impact Assessment - DSA Package clarifying responsibilities for digital services We welcome the EC’s policy objectives to provide a modernized framework for digital services. We believe that the future DSA package clarifying responsibilities for digital services should strive to provide a high level of legal certainty. Rules should be harmonised across the EU Member States maintaining the principle of Country of Origin and a clear objective on the removal of illegal content online. It should be applicable on all platforms directing their services and products towards end-users in the Union. Towards a targeted approach to removing illegal content As a provider of electronic communication services, we fall under the scope of the eCommerce Directive (ECD) by virtue of our status as a technical intermediary, with the obligation to implement blocking injunctions issued by a judicial authority or at the request of an administrative authority. Our role is of a mere technical, automatic and passive nature as we do not host content, and as such neither have knowledge of nor control over the content which is transmitted or stored. In the case of injunctions, blocking is typically done at the domain name-level of the site through our DNS servers. It does not amount to removing the illegal content itself from the internet, or a specific URL, but merely prevents access to such content through our services. In terms of categories of contents being blocked by Orange, it relates primarily to copyright infringements, online gambling, child sexual abuse material and terrorism-related content on instruction from the authorities. As no changes have occurred for passive providers, this approach should be maintained with blocking injunctions only used as a last resort. The aim should be to prevent publication and removal of illegal content at source, or as close to the source as possible, targeting in particular the active online platforms that allow sharing with the public and have actual knowledge of, or exert control over, such content. In this regard, the current definition of intermediaries falling under the article 14 of the ECD should be modernized ensuring a clear distinction between passive and active intermediaries. The notion of having actual knowledge of or exerting control over content is especially important in relation to cloud services. Cloud services should not be unfairly burdened with obligations for content monitoring and removal that providers are unable to act upon, owing to the technical characteristics of the services they offer. As a basic principle, the liability exemption regime should be maintained with duties of care of active hosting providers reinforced based on the country of origin principle, making the legislative instrument a regulation thus improving cooperation among Member States through harmonised rules. The ECD’s Article 15 prohibiting general monitoring should be maintained. Active hosting service providers should be allowed to take proactive, voluntary measures to monitor and remove illegal material, including for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud, without losing their liability exemption when those proactive measures remain targeted and do not constitute general monitoring. Sanctions should only be used as a last resort where active hosting platforms repeatedly fail to remove illegal content expeditiously. Tackling political advertising and disinformation is becoming even more critical to ensure that citizens can maintain their trust in society and public authorities, and we believe this is better addressed in the Democracy Action Plan. For legal clarity, the new liability regime should apply to removal of illegal content only. As a technical intermediary, Orange can only provide education and raise awareness of these issues to its customers, and if required to by the judicial authorities, block access to such content.
Read full response

Meeting with Anthony Whelan (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen) and Ericsson and

27 May 2020 · Licensing of standard essential patents

Meeting with Margrethe Vestager (Executive Vice-President) and Telefonica, S.A. and

2 Dec 2019 · Meeting with CEOs in the Telecom sector

Meeting with Olivier Guersent (Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

4 Jun 2019 · Caractéristiques néo-banques en ligne.

Response to Specifications for the provision of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS)

8 Feb 2019

Orange advocates for a forward-looking regulatory framework for C-ITS, which endorses market-led solutions, supports technological evolution, and abides wholly by the principle of technology neutrality thus maximizing C-ITS safety and efficiency for the benefit of EU citizens. Regrettably, the final draft of the C-ITS Delegated Regulation contradicts the Commission’s commitment to an open and future-proof approach to standards and legislation, by exclusively embracing ITS-G5 (802.11p – derived from Wi-Fi) based communications. As Orange, we believe that the Delegated Regulation should not be picking technology winners, but should allow the creation of a landscape with equal opportunities for all automakers, suppliers and other stakeholders aiming to support the deployment of C-ITS. The current draft Regulation excludes all technologies other than ITS-G5, such as LTE-V2X (both direct short-range or long-range modes) and does not appear to take into account that LTE-V2X is the only platform offering a clear evolutionary roadmap towards 5G for connected vehicles and road infrastructure. It should be further noted that many C-ITS priority services listed in Annex I have already been implemented using LTE cellular networks connectivity for long-range communications (traffic jams, weather conditions, road works, etc.). Yet, this reality is not accounted for by the draft text which still only foresees their deployment services exclusively via ITS-G5 for short-range communications. Although Orange welcomes the incorporation of a fast-track review option in Article 33, the draft Regulation still imposes discriminatory obligations on other available technologies such as LTE-V2X to be interoperable with ITS-G5. In a fast-changing technological environment, the cost of maintaining compatibility and interoperability should not be incurred only on all other technologies than ITS-G5. This would equate to significant technological and industry lock-in, hindering innovation by drastically reducing market competitiveness of forthcoming solutions. Previously deployed devices should also be required to perform certain software/hardware upgrades in order to maintain the continuity of the C-ITS priority services. All elements (specification maturity and commercial readiness) required in the proposed process for updating the draft Regulation are already met by LTE-V2X for both short and long-range modes: • All required profiles/technical specifications for LTE-V2X have been adopted by European SDOs; and are therefore available for inclusion as alternative references to ITS-G5; • Multiple vendors have already available & commercialised LTE-V2X short-range hardware and software in Q1 2019 (others are announced for Q2 2019), hence significantly before the expected date of application of the Regulation; • LTE-V2X long-range solutions are readily available and have been commercially deployed for many years. We therefore call upon the Commission to: • Define clearly interoperability requirement as “mutual” between mature technologies (ITS-G5 and LTE-V2X short & long-range modes) • Amend the current draft to include LTE-V2X technology short & long-range modes in its scope via related ETSI ITS approved specifications and profiles • Avoid legal uncertainty on the “fast-track” update process: o Introduce a 6-month deadline for the Commission to make its decision known as regards the initiation of an amendment procedure to include new technologies or services and; o Include criteria to assess objectively when and how a “suitable migration path” must be specified (e.g. below a certain market penetration threshold); o Specify the unambiguous definitions of terms such as “existing”, “maturity”, etc. o Include as an Annex a template for the “technical file” to be submitted. • Open up participation to in the future C-ITS expert group to representatives of technology segments that are not within the scope of the draft Regulation today.
Read full response

Response to Sustainability requirements for batteries

6 Feb 2019

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with a total customer base of 261 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2018, including 201 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is present in 28 countries, including 7 Member States. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. Orange is registered in the EU Transparency Register: 76704342721-41 For about fifteen years, Orange has been working on reducing its carbon footprint and its activity's impact on resources and raw materials. During the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21), Orange made two commitments which guide our activities in terms of reducing our environmental footprint: to cut our CO2 emissions per customer use by 50% by 2020 and to integrate the principles of the circular economy into the Group’s structure and processes. In this respect, Orange supports the Commission’s proposal to transform Europe into a global leader in producing and using high-performance sustainable batteries. Orange participates in the French COMES Committee (Comité pour les Métaux Stratégiques – Committee for Strategic Metals) set up by three French Ministries, dealing with the stakes associated to the usage of strategic metals in several branches of the economy : car manufacturers, aviation, industry, electronics, telecommunications etc. The COMES has made some studies related to the production and usage of batteries. It exchanges regularly with the European Commission. Orange believes it would be interesting to maintain a cross-sectorial approach as far as the development, production and usage of sustainable batteries in Europe is concerned. Such approach would allow, for instance, the re-use of batteries from one sector to another.
Read full response

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

19 Sept 2018 · e-privacy

Response to Fair taxation of the digital economy

15 May 2018

Orange welcomes the European Commission (EC) initiative on digital taxation, both its long term approach and its intermediary measures, while some clarification may be needed for the latest. Considering the current unfair and unjustified situation regarding tax asymmetries between digital players, we strongly hope they will, this time, gather strong support at EU level allowing a smooth adoption, at the benefits of the EU citizens and society. Corporate taxation is based on the principle that profits should be taxed where the value is created. To that end, permanent establishment rules, largely based on physical presence, currently determine when a business becomes taxable in a given country and have been relevant for traditional businesses. But as regards large tech companies and globalized two-sided platforms in particular, the current international tax system is not able to establish a legally binding link between the location of value creation and the location of taxation. In that context, multinational digital companies, benefitting from outdated tax rules unable to capture their widely distributed value chain and the digital nature of their activities, engage into tax optimization reducing artificially their tax base in Europe. Addressing the taxation challenge of a digitalized economy is thus necessary to sustain public budgets, fairness and prevent competition distortions. OECD has been missioned to address this concern at the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) work stream but is lacking consensus at this stage to move forward. We therefore welcome the EC initiative to propose two directives: one to adapt the corporate taxation rules at EU level so that they fit with the characteristics of digital businesses and another to adopt an interim measure which could be effective in the short term. We fully support in substance the comprehensive solution; this is common sense to revise the permanent establishment’s rule by integrating the concept of “significant digital presence”. This concept should be fine-tuned to be able to target all digital activities which currently escape tax and without prejudice to all other measures addressing tax avoidance issue. But it will take time and adopting an interim measure is thus a good lever to face the urgency of the situation and to make pressure at international level to find a real solution to this crucial issue. However, the draft directive 2018/0073 setting up a digital services tax (DST) should not lead to increase the tax burden of companies already fairly paying taxes in proportion of their activities within the EU and are not using the characteristics of digital to optimize taxation, as described above. The recital 27 of that draft Directive indicates that businesses could deduct the DST paid as a cost from the corporate income tax base in their territory. It should thus be modified to deal with potential double-taxation issue and add that businesses should be exempted from the DST if they pay a corporate tax above the DST due in their territory. This mechanism should also be explicitly mentioned in Article 3. This is all the more legitimate since the DST is explicitly presented as an interim approximation of what should be the corporate tax. Furthermore, clarifications are required to understand what the taxable revenues and the taxable persons are as the current formulations are subject to interpretations. Also, some digital activities or companies are not in the scope of the DST although they currently avoid taxation. To remain aligned with the principle of equality before tax, and promote fair competition, such exemptions should be duly justified. The DST should cover all digital activities that are not taxed where the value is created and only foresee exemptions based on the size of enterprises, in order to preserve innovation and emerging businesses.
Read full response

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

14 Mar 2018 · Electronic Communication Code

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

26 Feb 2018 · Code, ePrivacy, Net neutrality

Meeting with Carl-Christian Buhr (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel)

19 Jan 2018 · Artificial Intelligence

Response to Guidance on an EU methodology for the determination of Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) in telecoms regulation

10 Jan 2018

Orange questions the necessity to produce European guidance on WACC calculation at this point of time, and strongly disagrees with the Brattle Report; implementing its recommendations would be harmful to the EU markets in a context of huge investments in Very High Connectivity Networks (VHCN). First, developing guidelines on WACC does not seem justified or timely. There is no convincing evidence that WACC calculations by NRAs actually cause significant and recurrent difficulties. EC comments on NRAs draft decisions do not show any substantial issue with WACC calculation or specific need of further harmonisation. Since 2005, between half and one thousand market analysis decisions have been notified to the EC. Out all EC comments only 4 of them have mentioned WACC calculation as a concern and strictly speaking in only one case, the methodology itself was at stake. Moreover, Orange considers this project as particularly untimely: - There is no need from a regulatory perspective: WACC calculation is indeed becoming irrelevant to the direct calculation of the most significant regulated prices. Neither the unbundling prices, which is framed by the 2013 recommendation, nor the wholesale prices of NGA access (which should mainly depend on replicability test compliance), nor the MTR prices (which single European maximum rate could be soon directly determined by EC) should be strongly impacted by the planed guidelines. - But it sends a very negative signal to investors who are likely to interpret those Guidelines from the EC as capping the maximum level of profitability which regulators and more generally public authorities will tolerate from investments in telecom networks. In addition, in many countries, the application of the suggested guidelines would disrupt the forecasted WACC values. Overall, this implies low profitability expectations and the same time high level of risk, a deadly cocktail for investors, who may reconsider their financial support to VHCN. This initiative would thus not provide any operational benefit, but create an important economic risk at the worst moment, when high investments are required. Secondly, Orange disagrees with important conclusions of the Brattle report, which EC presents as the main reference for the future guidance, and considers in addition that their implementation will harmfully disrupt regulation in numerous countries. Let’s take two important examples: - Brattle suggests that “the NRA should use a common beta for legacy network activities” and proposes “an asset beta range of 0.50 to 0.67”. Such a large downwards evolution, as compared to existing national reference, would be paradoxical in the VHCN roll-out context, since (as acknowledged by Brattle) the risk associated with the copper network tends to increase with the roll-out of alternative networks and the VHCN value is highly dependent of the value of copper network. Those dependencies and the dependency with the general economic activities call on the contrary for beta to be lifted to 1. - Brattle also suggests “to estimate the risk-free rate based on an average yield over a period of time, but this averaging period should not exceed 12 months”. This conflicts with the policy of NRAs which rightly use a much longer reference period (10 years) first to protect the WACC against the financial markets volatility and second to accurately reflect the structural constraints actually faced by telecom operators in their financing strategy. In practice, applying such principle would immediately result in dividing the risk-free rate by 4, but would also create instability and unpredictability in the process. Globally, these two ideas could result in the halving of typical WACC levels. This possibility confirms the high risks attached to this initiative as previously mentioned.
Read full response

Meeting with Eric Peters (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel)

6 Nov 2017 · réglementation sectorielle; haut-débit

Meeting with Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

17 Oct 2017 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Carl-Christian Buhr (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel), Lora Borissova (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel)

5 Oct 2017 · Règlementation sectorielle

Meeting with Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)

27 Sept 2017 · DSM policies - Electronic Communication Code - Connectivity in Europe - 5G

Meeting with Eric Peters (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel)

27 Sept 2017 · réglementation sectorielle; numérique; télécommunications

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

17 Jul 2017 · Telco review: access & spectrum, e-privacy, B2B platforms, BE&FR market analyses

Meeting with Gertrud Ingestad (Director-General Informatics)

28 Mar 2017 · Introduction of new manager

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

16 Mar 2017 · Roaming, telecom review, 5G

Meeting with Stefano Manservisi (Director-General Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

8 Mar 2017 · exchange with you on how to develop a European approach of development through digital in Africa

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

27 Feb 2017 · 5G, roaming, spectrum, investment consolidation

Meeting with Hanna Hinrikus (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

12 Jan 2017 · Digital4Development

Meeting with Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

30 Nov 2016 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

30 Nov 2016 · Telecom review, roaming

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen)

16 Nov 2016 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Thibaut Kleiner (Digital Economy)

8 Nov 2016 · Electronic communication code

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

27 Sept 2016 · Working lunch on Telecom reforms and roaming

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

14 Jul 2016 · Telco review, consumer protection, access regulation, spectrum

Meeting with Antoine Colombani (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Bernardus Smulders (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and

7 Jul 2016 · Lunch Debat Grandes Entreprises Françaises - Better Regulation.

Meeting with Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

14 Jun 2016 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

13 Jun 2016 · Telecom review

Meeting with Michael Hager (Digital Economy), Thibaut Kleiner (Digital Economy) and

10 Jun 2016 · Standards/IoT

Meeting with Fabien Dell (Cabinet of Commissioner Pierre Moscovici)

30 May 2016 · sur DSM-cadre réglementaire

Meeting with Stig Joergen Gren (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

12 May 2016 · DSM general

Meeting with Kilian Gross (Digital Economy)

18 Apr 2016 · industrial package

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner) and Airbus and

22 Mar 2016 · DSM

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

10 Mar 2016 · Telco review inlcuding regulation & spectrum management

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

10 Mar 2016 · Telco policies

Meeting with Martin Selmayr (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker), Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker) and

25 Feb 2016 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

23 Feb 2016 · DSM Strategy, investments, digitalisation of industry

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

22 Feb 2016 · DSM and review of the telecom regulatory framework

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner) and Telefonica, S.A. and

22 Feb 2016 · Telco policies

Meeting with Nils Behrndt (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

16 Feb 2016 · ICT in development cooperation

Meeting with Eric Mamer (Digital Economy)

25 Jan 2016 · DSM

Meeting with Stig Joergen Gren (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

21 Jan 2016 · Big data, IoT, standards

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

21 Jan 2016 · DSM

Meeting with Roberto Viola (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and Telefonica, S.A. and Atos SE (France)

20 Jan 2016 · Fiware core industry

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy) and Telefonica, S.A.

15 Jan 2016 · DSM

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy), Michael Hager (Digital Economy) and

22 Oct 2015 · DSM + telecom review

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

21 Oct 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Stig Joergen Gren (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

29 Sept 2015 · DSM, cross-border services, standards

Meeting with Juhan Lepassaar (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip), Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

22 Sept 2015 · DSM Strategy

Meeting with Maximilian Strotmann (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

13 Sept 2015 · DSM, cross-border services, standards

Meeting with Eric Mamer (Digital Economy) and Mouvement des Entreprises de France and

10 Sept 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Maud Arnould (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

2 Jul 2015 · ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in Africa

Meeting with Michael Hager (Digital Economy) and Telefonica, S.A. and

1 Jul 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Fabien Dell (Cabinet of Commissioner Pierre Moscovici)

1 Jun 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Friedrich Wenzel Bulst (Cabinet of Commissioner Margrethe Vestager)

27 May 2015 · Meeting on key challenges of the future European digital policy

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner) and Telefonica, S.A. and

18 May 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Renate Nikolay (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová)

5 May 2015 · Data protection

Meeting with Eduard Hulicius (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová), Renate Nikolay (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová)

5 May 2015 · Digital Single Market strategy

Meeting with Liene Balta (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

16 Apr 2015 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Fabien Dell (Cabinet of Commissioner Pierre Moscovici)

30 Mar 2015 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

24 Mar 2015 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Eric Mamer (Digital Economy)

19 Mar 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Grzegorz Radziejewski (Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen)

11 Mar 2015 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner) and Telefonica, S.A. and

3 Mar 2015 · DSM, TSM

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner) and Telefonica, S.A. and

2 Mar 2015 · TSM

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

5 Feb 2015 · Telecoms Single Market

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

2 Feb 2015 · Digital Single Market, Telecom Single Market, investments

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Commissioner) and Telefonica, S.A. and Deutsche Telekom

2 Feb 2015 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner)

27 Jan 2015 · DSM

Meeting with Kamila Kloc (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

21 Jan 2015 · Telecoms Single Market and Digital Single Market

Meeting with Eric Mamer (Digital Economy)

4 Dec 2014 · Digital Single Market

Meeting with Pauline Rouch (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

4 Dec 2014 · Marché unique numérique connecté